1  ^ 


V*  PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund. 


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THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


The  Land  of  the  Pigmies 


BY 


CAPTAIN    GUY  BURROWS 

{Cajytat'n  CoininaiiJant,  Cousjo  Free  State) 


WITH    INTRODUCTION  HV 

H.  M.  STANLEY,  M.P. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS  AND 
SKETCHES  BY   THE  AUTHOR 


NEW  YORK:  46  East  14TH  Street 

THOMAS    Y.   CROWELL   &  COMPANY 

BOSTON:  100  Purchase  Street 


2Drtiiratfti. 

BY  PERMISSION, 
TO 

HIS   MAJESTY   THE   KING   OF   THE  BELGIANS. 


INTEODUCTION 


AYIXG  been  the  means  through  which  the 


author  of   this  latest  Yohnne   of  Congo 


travels  was  induced  to  take  a  part  in  the 
development  of  the  more  distant  regions  of  the 
Congo  Free  State,  it  is  but  fitting  that  I  should 
give  a  few  particulars  respecting  him. 

Captain  Guy  Burrows  descends  from  a  well- 
known  English  military  family.  His  great-grand- 
father was  a  General  of  Engineers,  so  likewise 
was  his  grandfather.  Two  of  his  uncles  were  also 
distinguished  officers  who  attained  similar  rank  in 
the  same  branch  of  the  service,  while  his  father. 
General  G.  E.  S.  Burrows,  became  Quarter-Master 
General  in  the  Bombay  army.  It  was  therefore 
but  a  natural  bent  in  our  author  to  adopt  the  same 
honourable  profession,  and  since  he  was  gazetted 
to  the  7th  Fusiliers  in  August,  1880,  Captain 
Burrows  has  seen  considerable  service.  In 
December,  1880,  he  joined  the  2nd  Battalion  at 


2 


vli 


viii 


INTBODUCTION 


Kandahar,  and  remained  continuously  in  India 
until  invalided  in  June,  1885.  On  reporting  for 
duty,  he  was  sent  to  Egypt  to  be  attached  to  the 
1st  Battalion,  and  in  February,  1887,  he  had  the 
command  of  Shellal  (1st  Cataract)  given  to  him. 
In  the  following  April  he  was  promoted  to  a 
captaincy,  and  commanded  the  British  detach- 
ment at  Assun  during  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  that  year.  He  retired  from  the  Army  in 
November,  1888. 

In  1894  the  Congo  State  authorities  being 
desirous  of  opening  the  region  around  the  Upper 
Welle-Mobanghi,  requested  me  to  nominate  a  few 
unemployed  British  officers  who  would  be  disposed 
to  serve  a  term  in  that  remote  corner  of  the  State. 
Among  those  who  hailed  the  opportunity  and 
expressed  themselves  eager  for  service  was  Captain 
Guy  Burrows.  As  both  figure  and  appearance 
recommended  him  as  physically  qualified,  and  he 
was  possessed  of  indisputable  credentials,  he  had  no 
sooner  presented  himself  at  Brussels  than  he  was 
engaged  as  a  district  commander  in  the  Welle- 
Mobanghi  division.  That  his  services  were  appre- 
ciated may  be  judged  by  his  promotions,  for  in  less 
than  a  year  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  Makua  (Upper  AYelle)  Zone,  and  in  February, 
1897,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Rubi- Welle 
Zone.  As  his  three-year  term  drew  to  a  close  he 
was  attacked  with  a  severe  hyematuric  fever,  but 


INTEODUCTION 


ix 


unwilling  to  leave  before  he  had  fulfilled  his  con- 
tract, he  held  on  to  his  post,  and  only  when  he 
had  exceeded  his  term  did  he  consent  to  retire. 
He  reached  Europe  on  the  17th  of  September,  1897, 
having  been  absent  from  home  nearly  three  and  a 
quarter  years.  He  has  now  completely  recovered 
his  health,  and  before  this  book  will  be  published 
he  will  be  well  on  his  way  back  to  the  Congo  to 
take  up  his  new  appointment  of  Commissioner  of 
the  Aruwimi  Districts. 

With  regard  to  this  first  literary  effort  of  Captain 
Burrows  I  need  say  but  little.  Its  title  is  a 
fascinating  one,  and  suggests  the  satisfaction  of 
our  legitimate  curiosity  respecting  the  little  people 
whom  the  Emin  Eelief  Expedition  discovered  in 
such  numbers  in  the  great  forest  traversed  by  the 
Aruwimi.  As  our  author  had  an  enormous  num- 
ber of  unknown  tribes  to  describe  within  limited 
space,  he  has  selected  for  treatment  only  a  few  of 
the  principal,  such  as  the  Mangbettou  (Monbuttu), 
Ababwas,  Azande,  Maigoes,  Mabode,  Momvus, 
among  whom  the  Pigmies  live.  Our  information 
respecting  these  tribes  has  been  hitherto  but  scant. 
Schweinfurth,  Junker,  Casati,  and  Emin  reached 
the  threshold  of  the  region  herein  specified  as  the 
Land  of  the  Pigmies  ;  but  since  their  time  circum- 
stances have  altogether  changed,  and  the  country 
has  been  penetrated  through  and  through  several 
times.    Fortified  stations  dot  the  banks  of  the 


X 


INTRODUCTION 


Welle-Makua,  and  caravans  are  constantly  passing 
and  repassing  between  the  Lower  Mobanghi  and  the 
White  Nile.  Most  of  the  country  was  an  absolute 
terra-incognita  until  the  gallant  Van  Kherkhoven 
led  his  column  to  the  Nile  from  the  wxst ;  and 
therefore  this  first  description  of  the  country  and 
its  wild  inhabitants  by  an  English  officer  who  has 
assisted  in  its  administration  for  a  number  of  years 
ought  to  be  welcome. 

Captain  Burrows's  book  possesses  several  merits. 
In  the  first  place  it  is  brief,  and  gives  us  a  very 
good  idea  of  the  lands  haunted  by  the  Pigmies,  as 
well  as  of  the  characteristics  of  the  larger 
aborigines,  some  of  whom,  it  appears,  have  qualities 
that  must  prove  of  great  value  when  their  savagery 
has  been  softened  by  greater  intercourse  with  the 
whites.  What  the  Congo  State  has  been  doing  in 
the  countries  bordering  the  Welle,  or  how  it  is 
progressing  in  its  work  of  clearing  the  darkness  and 
mystery  that  have  so  long  shrouded  them,  seems 
to  be  a  secondary  matter.  Of  his  marches  and 
countermarches  he  says  little,  the  incidents  of  his 
daily  life  he  leaves  untold,  and  of  his  hunting 
exploits,  harassments,  fevers,  feelings  and  emotions 
he  is  unusually  shy.  Captain  Burrows  has  pre- 
ferred to  treat  only  of  the  iiatives  and  their  ways, 
and  I  am  bound  to  admit  that  I  found  his  book  so 
interesting  that  I  read  it  through  at  a  sitting. 

Lord   Salisbury's  recent  reference   to  "  dying 


INTBODUCTION 


xi 


nations  "  in  his  late  speech  has  led  a  writer  in  the 
Spectator  to  include  the  Congo  State  as  among 
the  moribund,  though  singulariy  enough  people  in 
Brussels  and  on  the  Congo  profess  to  be  entirely 
ignorant  that  there  is  anything  to  justify  such  a 
statement,  and  personally  I  have  not  the  remotest 
idea  what  he  can  refer  to.  The  author  of  this 
novel  jeremiad  will  perhaps  excuse  me  if  I  ask  him 
not  only  to  read  but  to  study  King  Leopold's  letter 
attached  to  this  book,  and  if  he  does  it  with  a  clear 
understanding  I  venture  to  say  he  will  entertain  a 
different  opinion. 

Brief  as  Captain  Burrows's  description  of  the 
regions  of  the  Welle  countries  are,  they  yet  suffice 
to  bring  to  me  very  vividly  the  realities  of  savage 
anarchy.  They  remind  me  of  the  state  I  found 
the  Congo  basin  to  be  in  between  1876-1884,  but 
when  I  think  of  what  the  banks  of  the  Congo  are 
to-day  I  am  compelled  more  than  ever  to  acknow- 
ledge what  great  gratitude  the  civilised  world  owes 
to  King  Leopold  for  his  matchless  sacrifices  in 
behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  region. 

Carlyle  says  that  "to  subdue  mutiny,  discord, 
widespread  despair  by  manfulness,  justice,  mercy, 
and  wisdom,  to  let  light  on  chaos,  and  make  it 
instead  a  green  flowery  world,  is  great  beyond  all 
other  greatness,  work  for  a  God  !  "  Who  can  doubt 
that  God  chose  the  King  for  His  instrument  to 
redeem  this  vast  slave  park  whence  Dongolawi 


xii 


INTRODUCTION 


and  Arab,  Bakongo  and  Portuguese  half-caste 
slave  traders  culled  their  victims  for  the  slave 
market.  King  Leopold  found  the  Congo  region 
"  stained  by  wasteful  deformities,  tears,  and  * 
hearts'  blood  of  myriads,"  cursed  by  cannibalism, 
savagery  and  despair;  and  he  has  been  trying 
with  a  patience,  which  I  can  never  sufficiently 
admire,  to  relieve  it  of  its  horrors,  rescue  it 
from  its  oppressors,  and  save  it  from  perdition. 
Some  who  have  marked  what  he  has  been  doing 
think  he  has  been  too  slow,  others  say  he  has  been 
going  too  fast ;  some  are  out  of  patience  with  the 
tedious  process  of  conversion  and  civilisation,  and 
think  the  betterment  of  a  few^  thousand  of  the 
inhabitants  of  no  account;  others  again  jibe  and 
mock  and  sneer  at  all  his  efforts,  and  predict 
certain  failure  ;  still  the  King  continues  to  keep  his 
treasury  open,  spends  his  million  francs  every  year 
with  undiminishing  faith  that  in  the  end  all  will 
come  right. 

I  am  sorry  to  have  to  admit  that  our  Press  have 
been  the  severest  critics  of  the  King,  and  the  most 
persistent  in  fault-finding.  It  almost  seems  as 
though  the  civilisation  of  the  Congo  was  for  some 
reason  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  English. 
From  the  very  beginning  in  1877,  when  I  mooted 
the  idea  first,  every  one  who  has  been  prominent 
in  this  w^ork  has  been  the  subject  of  censure,  and 
English  opposition  to  it  has  been  strenuous  and 


INTRODUCTION 


xiii 


untiring.  The  English  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  Congo  themselves,  they  were  averse  from 
recognising  the  Portuguese  claims,  the  French 
were  denounced  for  coveting  it,  and  the  efforts  of 
the  Belgians  to  improve  the  portion  allotted  to 
them  by  the  Berlin  Conference  have  been  always 
discouraged  and  followed  by  ominous  prediction. 
I  can  make  nothing  of  this  temper  because  it  is 
so  unreasonable  and  unjustifiable,  and  I  cannot 
even  guess  as  to  what  the  British  Press  would 
wish  to  have  done  to  the  Congo.  It  cannot  be 
abandoned  to  revert  to  a  wilderness,  it  cannot 
belong  to  England,  and  it  would  scarcely  suit  the 
English  to  have  it  transferred  to  France,  Germany, 
or  to  Portugal.  Why  do  our  writers,  then,  object 
to  hear  of  steady  progress  being  made  on  the 
Congo  under  Belgian  administration,  and  prefer 
to  publish  malignant  letters  from  some  dismissed 
official  or  splenetic  missionary  on  which  they  may 
base  their  prognostications  of  speedy  dissolution, 
rather  than  on  facts  which  cannot  be  disproved 
and  which  point  to  opposite  conclusions  ? 

For  1898  the  revenue  of  this  State  said  to  be 
^' dying"  is  estimated  at  i;'590,000,  inclusive  of 
the  subsidies  of  King  Leopold  and  the  Belgian 
Government — that  is  to  say,  the  sum  of  £470,000 
will  be  drawn  out  of  the  State  itself,  and  be  it 
remembered  this  revenue  has  grown  from  nil 
within  fourteen  years.     The   debt  is  no  doubt 


xiv 


INTRODUCTION 


large  having  regard  to  the  present  revenue,  and 
the  continued  annual  expenditure  which  exceeds 
it,  but  a  glance  at  the  condition  of  the  State, 
say  in  1885,  when  it  came  into  being,  ought  to 
satisfy  any  intelligent  person  that  without  such 
generous  external  aid  its  existence  would  have 
been  impossible.  It  is  also  better  to  have  incurred 
such  a  debt  in  creating  and  preserving  the  State 
than  to  have  forfeited  it  through  allowing  it  to 
stagnate  and  neglect  of  effective  occupation. 
The  present  question  of  Boussa  and  Xikki  has 
arisen  through  our  neglect  of  the  obligations  which 
were  imposed  upon  all  Powers  possessing  African 
territory.  Our  indifference  to  our  boundaries  has 
resulted  in  France  annexing  territory  far  within 
our  own  borders. 

King  Leopold  in  his  letter  remarks  that  "the 
Congo  is  a  state  whose  boundaries  are  occupied 
and  guarded — a  result  nearly  unequalled  in  the 
history  of  colonisation,  but  which  is  explained  by 
the  concentration  of  all  my  efforts  in  one  field  of 
action."  It  was  for  this  object  of  securing  the 
boundaries  that  the  greatest  expenditure  was 
incurred.  To  judge  whether  it  was  a  proper 
prudence  must  be  left  to  those  who  remember 
the  history  of  the  State.  At  any  rate  it  will  not 
be  denied,  even  by  the  writer  in  the  Spectator^  that 
had  we  paid  similar  attention  to  our  boundaries 
in  Nigeria,  East  Central  Africa,  and  on  the  Nile 


INTRODUCTION 


XV 


we  should  have  had  no  anxieties  respecting  Boussa 
and  Nikki  in  the  West,  Fashoda  on  the  Nile,  or 
the  extent  of  the  Abyssinian  incursions.  Eelying 
upon  our  prestige  and  dignity  as  a  first-class 
Power,  we  thought  that  by  merely  painting  our 
spheres  red  we  should  be  safe  against  intrusion. 
We  were,  however,  deceived,  and  it  may  cost 
us  a  hundred  millions  to  recover  our  rights. 

Now  the  *  question  is :  Had  the  infant  State, 
which  had  no  force,  no  past,  and  no  prestige,  left 
her  boundaries  unoccupied  and  unprotected,  how 
much  would  have  been  left  of  it  by  now  ?  The 
next  question  is.  Was  the  avoidance  of  contentious 
questions  between  France  and  the  Congo  State 
worth  the  large  expenditure  lavished  on  the 
frontier  stations  ? 

The  experience  of  the  South  African  Company 
also  goes  to  show  that  if  you  would  reap  you  must 
sow,  and  that  as  you  sow  you  may  expect  to  reap. 
The  debt  and  revenue  of  the  Chartered  Company 
approximate  that  of  the  Congo  State.  Rhodesia 
has  hitherto  suffered,  and  still  suffers,  from  want 
of  sufficient  means  of  transport.  True,  we  know 
the  railway  has  recently  reached  Bulawayo,  but 
the  Goldfields,  on  which  Ehodesia  depends  for 
revenue,  are  still  distant  from  that  town,  and 
much  remains  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  railway 
extension  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  the  country,  and 
justify  the  faith  of  investors. 

3 


xvi 


INTRODUCTION 


Four  months  after  the  arrival  of  the  railway  at 
Bulawayo  the  locoraotive  reached  Stanley  Pool, 
but  instead  of  railway  extension  the  Congo  State 
only  requires  larger  steamers  to  bring  to  the  upper 
terminus  the  60,000  tons  of  produce,  which  the 
railway  will  need  to  have  its  full  capacity 
employed.  It  will  not  be  long  before  the  20,000 
miles  of  the  upper  river  banks  now  accessible  will 
be  abundantly  able  to  furnish  that  amount  of 
freight.  What  the  gold  output  of  Ehodesia  will 
do  for  Ehodesian  revenue,  the  rubber,  gum,  and 
timber  products  of  400,000  square  miles  of  forest 
are  expected  to  do  for  the  Congo  State. 

Since  1891  there  have  been  planted  on  the 
Upper  Congo  1,500,000  coffee  and  200,000  cocoa 
plants,  and  the  export  of  rubber  has  risen  from 
a  few  pounds  in  1885  to  3,570,756  lbs.  in  181)7. 
The  value  of  this  amount  is  stated  to  be  ^357,056. 
In  1884  the  exports  from  the  Upper  Congo  were 
nil^  in  1897  they  were  valued  at  i;621,688.  It 
ought  to  be  remembered  that  this  produce  was 
carried  on  men's  shoulders ;  and  now  that  the 
railway  is  at  Stanley  Pool,  what  may  we  not 
expect  in  a  few  years  when  the  coffee  and  cocoa 
plants  are  in  full  bearing,  the  saw-mills  turning- 
out  their  hard-wood  logs — mahogany,  teak,  green- 
heart,  and  ironwood — by  the  hundred  thousand, 
every  river-bank  with  rubber-bearing  plants  dili- 
gently searched,  and  the  gum  deposits  yielding 


INTRODUCTION 


xvii 


up  their  wealth  to  the  prospectors  ?  But  it  is 
unnecessary  to  dilate  upon  the  prospect.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  out  of  England  few  people 
are  pessimistic  in  regard  to  the  future  of  the 
State. 

The  King  further  says  that  now  the  difficulties 
encountered  in  establishing  and  provisioning  the 
distant  posts,  and  maintaining  the  communications, 
"will  be  greatly  reduced  by  the  completion  of  the 
railway  to  Stanley  Pool;  "  the  progress  which  was 
hitherto  but  moderate,  considering  the  means  of 
transport,  must  be  greatly  accelerated.  To  the 
State  and  its  1,600  white  officials,  merchants,  and 
missionaries,  most  of  whom  are  on  the  Upper 
Congo,  the  gain  will  be  substantial.  The  tedious 
journey  past  the  cataracts  occupied  twenty  days, 
but  the  train,  though  only  running  during  day- 
light, will  do  the  distance  in  two  days.  On  the 
Upper  River  are  some  sixty  steamers  and  steel 
boats,  all  of  which  were  carried  by  black  porters 
in  weights  of  60  lbs.  It  also  required  an  army  of 
40,000  native  carriers  to  annually  convey  the 
goods  and  provisions  needed  for  business  and 
existence  by  the  Europeans.  It  was  cruelly  severe 
labour  these  natives  were  engaged  in,  though  they 
volunteered  readily  for  the  transport  service. 
Now,  however,  these  carriers  are  no  longer  needed, 
and  the  State  is  suddenly  enriched  by  the  departure 
of  these  men,  who  have  been  trained  by  years  of 


xviii 


INTBODUCTION 


industrious  habits,  to  other  fields,  to  collect  rubber 
and  gum,  oil  and  palm  nuts,  &c.,  &c.,  which  they 
know  will  be  bought  for  cash  at  every  depot.  The 
expense  of  transport  will  be  lessened  by  two-thirds, 
and  this  economy  will  be  net  gain  to  the  State. 

Captain  Guy  Burrows  and  his  companions  now 
on  their  way  to  the  Congo  will  doubtless  greatly 
appreciate  the  advantages  of  the  railway.  On  the 
twentieth  day  from  Antwerp  they  will  reach  the 
railway  station  at  Matadi,  and  towards  the  even- 
ing of  the  day  after  they  left  it  they  will  reach  the 
Pool,  and  ten  days  later  they  will  be  comfortably 
housed  within  the  fortified  station  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Aruwimi — nearly  1,300  miles  from  the 
Atlantic.  Before  their  contract  term  has  expired 
the  speed  of  steamers  and  railway  will  have  been 
so  accelerated  that  they  will  be  able  to  reach  home 
in  twenty-four  days.  Neither  in  their  going  out 
or  their  return  home  will  their  strength  and  energy 
be  exhausted  as  in  the  past.  When  the  gallant 
Captain  comes  home  again  I  hope  he  mil  be  able 
to  furnish  us  with  another  book,  wherein  he  will 
tell  us  about  the  newer  developments  in  the  State 
which  followed  the  introduction  of  the  railway,  and 
the  linking  of  the  Upper  Congo  flotilla  with  the 
Ocean  Mail  steamers  and  what  resulted  from  the 
abolition  of  the  carrier  system. 

HENEY  M.  STANLEY. 

Maij  16,  1898. 

2,  Richmond  Terrace,  Whitehall,  London 


PEE  FACE 


THE  mouth  of  the  Congo  was  discovered  m 
1484  by  Diego  Cam,  a  Portuguese  naval 
officer,  and  member  of  the  household  of 
King  Juan  II.,  who  at  that  time  took  part  in 
an  expedition  which  was  coasting  the  African 
continent  with  the  object  of  discovering  the  East 
Indies.  To  commemorate  this  finding  of  the 
Congo  a  pillar  was  erected  on  the  southern  pro- 
montory of  the  Delta,  which  is  still  known  as 
the  Padrao  Foreland,  jmclrad  being  the  Portu- 
guese for  pillar.  The  explorers  called  the  stream 
the  Zaire,  from  the  word  Nmdi,  which  means 
river ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  early  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century  that  the  stream  was 
first  described  on  maps  as  the  Kio  de  Congo. 

Ancient  descriptions,  which  date  back  to  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries,  are  based  upon 
stories  brought  home  by  traders,  and  in  no  way 
raise  the  veil  of  mystery  which  enshrouds  the 
interior  of  the  country,  of  which  they  give  most 
fanciful  accounts.  From  that  time  until  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century  the  history  of  the 


XX 


PBEFACE 


Congo  is  taken  up  by  the  Poitiiguese,  who  spread 
the  gospel  among  the  people  subject  to  their 
rule. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Congo  proper  was  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  river  whence  it  derives  its 
name,  on  the  south  by  the  river  Kuanza,  and 
stretched  some  miles  in  an  easterly  direction. 

A  cathedral  was  erected  at  Ambassa  which 
became  the  seat  of  a  bishopric  in  1534.  When 
the  King  of  the  Congo  was  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity the  name  of  the  city  was  changed  to  San 
Salvador,  and  later  on  the  Roman  Catholic  see 
was  transferred  to  St.  Paul  de  Loanda. 

In  1784  the  Portuguese  built  a  fort  at  Kabinda, 
thirty  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Congo,  in 
order  to  mark  the  occupation  of  the  kingdom  by 
Portugal ;  but  a  French  squadron  compelled  them 
to  dismantle  this  stronghold.  Along  the  Congo 
there  w^ere  also  stations  at  which  slaves  were 
embarked ;  these,  were  transferred  to  St.  Paul  de 
Loanda  together  with  the  bishopric. 

James  Kingston  Tuckey,  the  leader  of  the  expe- 
dition dispatched  by  the  British  Government  in 
1816,  gives  the  first  precise  description  of  the 
Lower  Congo,  from  its  mouth  to  a  distance  of  170 
miles  into  the  interior.  Tuckey  mentions  the 
presence  of  numerous  slave-dealers  along  the 
banks — owners  of  "  baracoons,"  with  which  the}' 
did  a  lucrative  business.     In   1810,  when  the 


PREFACE 


xxi 


European  Powers  resolved  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade,  Portugal  alone  refused  to  adhere  to  the 
convention,  and  in  1816  two  thousand  slaves 
were  still  being  shipped  annually  from  the  Congo. 

In  1867  Livingstone  discovered  the  Tchambesi, 
running  westward  to  the  south  of  Tanganika, 
and  mistook  it  for  the  source  of  the  Nile.  He 
explored  the  river  as  far  as  Lake  Bangwelo,  and 
between  1868  and  1871  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  issued  from  that  source  under  the  name 
of  Luapula,  flowing  northwards  into  Lake  Moero, 
from  which  it  emerged  under  the  name  of  Lualaba. 
He  again  found  the  same  river  at  Nyangwe,  a 
town  in  Manyema,  at  a  distance  of  1,300  miles 
from  its  source.  At  this  point  it  had  attained 
an  enormous  breadth. 

In  October,  1876,  the  expedition  despatched  by 
the  Daily  Telegraph  and  the  Ne2v  York  Herald 
under  Stanley  reached  the  Arab  town  of  Nyangwe. 
It  was  from  here  that  Stanley  made  his  famous 
descent  of  the  river  to  the  ocean.  After  travelling- 
two  hundred  and  eighty-one  days,  the  expedition 
came  in  sight  of  the  Atlantic,  having  traversed 
1,660  miles  by  water  and  140  miles  by  land. 

The  Tchambesi,  Lake  Bangwelo,  the  Luapula, 
Lake  Moero,  and  the  Lualaba  were  then  all 
proved  to  be  parts  of  the  Upper  Congo,  which 
was  thus  followed  in  its  entirety  four  hundred 
years  after  the  discovery  of   its  mouth  by  the 


xxii 


PREFACE 


Portuguese,  and  shown  to  cross  Central  Africa 
from  east  to  west,  and  to  form  a  natural  means 
of  communication  with  the  very  heart  of  the  Dark 
Continent. 

The  first  African  expedition  to  start  from  the 
East  Coast  left  Europe  on  the  23rd  of  January 
1879,  with  Stanley  at  its  head,  proceeding  first  to 
Zanzibar,  where  a  number  of  servants  of  the 
former  expedition,  and  many  Zanzibaris,  were 
recruited.  Stanley  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo  on  the  14th  of  August,  and  there  found  the 
Belgian  flotilla  awaiting  him.  On  board  the 
Esjjerance  he  ascended  the  Congo  as  far  as  Yivi, 
the  furthest  navigable  point,  where  he  erected  a 
station  under  many  difiiculties.  In  March  1880, 
he  began  to  construct  a  track  between  Yivi  and 
Isangila,  which  he  reached  in  February  1881, 
having  transported  his  heavy  loads  and  his  boats, 
mounted  on  waggons,  and  dragged  by  negroes, 
through  a  country  bristling  with  almost  impassable 
forests. 

I  am  well  aware  that  several  earlier  explorers 
have  given  to  the  public  interesting  accounts  of 
their  travels  and  discoveries  in  remote  African 
regions,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  have  been 
able  to  record  some  further  and  fresh  information 
gathered  by  personal  experience  in  parts  where 
no  white  man  had  trodden  before. 

G.  B. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Mr.  Stanley's  Advertisement — I  am  ordered  to  Semio — The 
jom-ney — Matadi — Lukungu — Leopold  ville — The  prmcipal 
races — Then-  food — Then-  dresses — The  Musseronges — 
Fetich-Priests — The  Babuendi — The  voyage  up  the  river 
— The  Roman  Catholic  Mission — Equator  station — The 
Ubanghi — "We  journey  in  dug-outs — ^Mokoangai — Banzy ville 
— A  native's  idea  of  a  flogging — A  ransomed  slave — 
Yakoma — I  become  a  "blood-brother" — The  ceremony  .  3 

CHAPTER  II. 

A  tornado — Extra  paddlemen  wanted — Lieutenant  De^enj^ns 
obliged  to  proceed  by  land — Strike  of  canoe-men — The 
rapids — A  canoe  sinks — Desertion  of  the  paddlemen — We 
surprise  a  village — A  press-gang — Interpretation  under 
difficulties — A  portage — Dahia  breaks  his  promise — I  camp 
on  an  island — Canoe-men  anxious  to  work — Konirali — I 
learn  my  destination — Djabbir — M'Bima — The  ransom  of 
a  condemned  wizard— Arrival  at  N'Yangara       ...  31 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  punitive  expedition — A  deserted  comitry — The  column  sur- 
prised— The  Azande  charge — Rout  of  the  Sierra  Leone  — 
We  fall  back  to  Dongu — I  am  sent  to  establish  a  new  post 

4  xxiiL 


xxiv 


CONTENTS 


— T  am  given  charge  of  the  District  of  the  Upper  Welle — 
Its  aspect — Altitude — Navigation — Climate — Native  names 
for  the  months — Tribal  divisions — The  Azande — Their 
origin  a  mystery — Their  country — Hunters — Pottery — 
Status  of  the  women  among  them — ^War-dress  of  the  chiefs 
— Morality — The  warriors — Their  weapons — Beer — Their 
methods  of  execution — Superstition — Not  nomadic,  but 
absorbing — Their  villages — Type  of  face — Possible  Semitic 
origin — The  chiefs — Crafts,  military  science,  primitive 
jurisprudence  and  trial  b}'  ordeal — The  oracle  of  Benge    .  50 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

The  Mang-bettou  tribe — The  conqueror  and  vanquished — 
Modern  Mang-bettous  —  Villages  —  Good  husbandmen  — 
Skilful  craftsmen  —  Aristocracy  —  Chieftain —  Camiibals  — 
The  war-drum — The  mapingo— The  women — Giving  paint 
— No  divorce — Arms — Tobacco  and  pipes  —  Smoking  cus- 
toms— The  beer — Drinking  customs  of  the  Mang-bettou — 
Harvest — Mang-bettou  "gold  cure" — No  knowledge  of 
tactics — Huts — Intermarriage — Head-dress  of  the  men — 
The  chief's  "ball" — Then-  religious  superstitions — Spiri- 
tualists— Funeral  customs — The  attaro — Funeral  customs 
of  the  chiefs  —  Morality  non-existent  —  Nicknames  — 
Mourning     ..........  77 


CHAPTEE  V. 

I  visit  the  Mabode  country — Eeturn  to  Pokko — Attacked  by 
fever — The  Mege — Their  comitry  and  customs — The  Niapu 
— A  buffer  state — No  mterest  taken  in  the  white  man — The 
mule  a  fabulous  animal — The  "lucundoo  " — Poison  resorted 
to — The  methods  of  working  witchcraft — Cleanliness  of  the 
Mege — I  interview  a  tribe  previously  unvisited  by  the  white 
man — Good  reception  spoilt  by  an  accident— I  take  the 
initiative — Eout  of  the  Mabode — I  turn  off  eastward — 
Fresh  attacks  by  the  Mabode — Cross  the  Nava — Attack 
and  capture  of  the  zareba — Nineteen  men  of  my  party  are 
wounded — Belief  by  Lieutenant  Laplume — The  Mabode 
villages — Cannibalism  rampant  among  them — The  under- 
ground rivers  —  Dances  —  The  Momvus  tribe  —  Their 
customs — Equality  of  the  sexes — Eeturn  to  N'Yangara       .  110 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VL 

Cannibalism — Its  possible  origin  discussed — Livingstone  and 
the  Manyema — The  question  never  properly  discussed — 
Prehistoric  cannibalism — Superstition  or  choice — Cannibals 
not  necessarily  degraded — Pigmies  not  cannibals — Body- 
snatching — The  Bangala — The  Bateke — The  Mabode  made 
no  secret  of  it — The  w^ay  it  is  done — Among  the  Bangala — 
Among  the  other  tribes  

CHAPTER  VII. 

Returning  dovm  the  Welle — The  name  of  hippopotamus — I 
shoot  one — The  scenery  of  a  Congo  river — Elephants'  plaj'- 
ground — A  night  expedition — A  chance  shot — The  second 
elephant — We  follow^  the  womided  elephant  into  the  bush — 
Ammunition  expended — A  further  supply  obtained — Tlie 
delighted  natives  —  Elephant-shooting  by  daylight  —  The 
Mobanghi  paddlemen — The  dug-out — I  miss — The  first 
elephant  killed — The  second  afraid — Bull  elephants  travel 
in  couples — A  "picture  puzzle" — An  elephant's  gentle 
shuffle  

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Early  traces  of  the  Pigmies — Possible  relation  to  the  people  of 
fairy  legends — The  Akka — Division — Tribe  mark — Villages 
— Mental  state — Phj'sical  state — Instruments — Dancing — 
Hunting — Weapons — Bananas— Purchase  their  instruments 
— Chiefs  —  Nominal  protection  —  The  Albino —  Nomads  — 
Burial  rites  —  Under  White  influence  —  Their  language — 
Making  fire  ......... 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Ababwa  people — Fictitious  reports  had  reached  me  con- 
cerning them — The  reasons  for  this — The  middlemen — The 
deference  paid  by  the  Ababwa  to  the  Azande — The  country 
— Customs  of  the  Ababwa — Language — I  arrive  at  Djabbir 
— An  expedition  against  the  murderers  of  Grahame — The 
doctor — Wild  firing — Terror  of  the  doctor — Volleys  heard — 
No  trace  of  the  other  column — Attacked  by  the  Azande — 
The  men  demoralised — I  form  a  square — Azande  driven 
back — The  doctor's  idea  of  warfare — Deserted  by  the  other 


xxvi 


CONTENTS 


two  columns — We  return  to  the  station — The  chief  Djabbir 
— The  corporal  promoted  —  News  of  Dhanis's  disaster  — 
Recruiting — The  Mobanghi — Their  tribal  customs — Make 
the  best  soldiers — Frank  criticism — Hunters  and  watermen 
— Reading  the  river — The  mission  station  at  Upoto— Arrival 
at  Boma  200 


CIIArTER  X. 

The  Government  of  the  Congo  Free  State — Local  Adminis- 
tration at  Boma — The  Consultative  Committee — The  State 
Offices — Districts  and  their  Commissioners — Native  Head- 
ships —  Department  of  Justice  —  Coinage  —  War  Office  — 
Native  Service — Regulations  the  same  as  in  the  Belgian 
Army — The  medical  service — Powers  of  the  State  medical 
officers  —  The  Red  Cross  Society  —  The  missions  —  The 
Scheut  Fathers — Missionary  newspapers — Methods  of  the 
workers  —  Probationary  period  —  The  Protestant  Missions 
wealthier  than  the  Roman  Catholic — English  taught  to  the 
natives — Publication  of  native  grammars     ....  219 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  geology  of  the  Congo — Prehistoric  axe-heads — Fauna — 
The  gorilla  and  the  chimpanzee — African  elephant  — 
State  decrees  regarding  elephant- shooting — The  tusks — 
Rhinoceros — Birds  of  prey — Reptiles — Domestic  animals 
— Fish — Methods  of  the  natives  in  catching  fish — Flora — 
Equatorial  vegetation — The  banana — Manioc  introduced 
from  America — Other  edible  vegetables — Tinctorial  plants 
— Rubber — Textile  plants — Cocoa- trees — A  relic  of  Stanley's 
experiments — Tobacco,  and  smoking  customs — Barter         .  237 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  transport  of  goods  on  the  Congo — Native  deserters — Rail- 
ways in  Africa — A  wonderful  piece  of  engineering — Railway 
lines  in  prospect — The  schemes  of  the  Congo  Government 
— An  express  from  Alexandria  to  the  Cape  ....  267 

Appendices  : — 

Letter  from  the  King  of  the  Belgians  285 

A  Glossarj^  of  Words  and  Phrases  289 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTEATIONS 


PAGE 

FEOXTISPIECE  THE  AUTHOR            ,               .               .  . 

MATADI   (DOWN-STEEAM)               ....  4 

LEOPOLDYILLE          -              .              .               .               .  .5 

AMERICAN  MISSION  SCHOOL,   LEOPOLDYILLE       .               .  9 

POTTERY  OF  LO^YER    UBANGHI          .               .               .  .11 

MASK  OF  MEDICINE  MAN              .               .               ,               .  13 

TYPE  OF  RECTANGULAR  HUT             .               .               .  .17 

THE   "goodwill"   STARTING  FROM  BOPOTO                   .  19 

YOUNG  GIRL,   HIGHER  UBANGHI       .               .               .  .20 

NATIYE  OF  HIGHER  UBANGHI     .               .               .               .  22 

CONGO  MISSION   SCHOOL       .               .               .               »  .25 

^YOODEN  SPOONS  FROM  THE  EQUATOR   ...  28 

IN  THE  RAPIDS         .               .               .               .               .  .29 

LULUABOURG       ......  33 

BANANAS       .               .               .               .               .               .  .35 

MOBANGHI  NATIVE           .               .               -               .               ,  37 

THE   SULTAN  DJABBIR                .               .               .               .  .  39 

CONGO  CANOE      ......  41 

SULTAN  DJABBIR  AND  FAMILY          .               .               ,  ,43 

xxvii 


xxviii  LIST  OF  ILL  US  TEA  TIONS 

PAGK 

FORT  AT  DJABBIR    .               ,               .               ,               ,  .47 

WOMAN  CARRYING  MANIOC           ....  49 

WOMEN  CARRYING  RICE  AFTER  THE  HARVEST         .  ,51 

MOBANGHI  NATIVE           .....  52 

WITCH  PROCESSION  :   GIRLS  DECORATED  WITH  BEADS  .  54 

AZANDE   FETICHES            .               .               .       '        .               .  56 

AZANDE   NATIVE        .               .               .               .               .  .57 

AZANDE   KENIBA                ,               ....  59 

NATIVE  DANCE          .              .              .              .              .  .63 

AZANDE  WEAPONS            .....  65 

TYPE  OF  HUT           .              .              .              .              .  .68 

SECTION  OF  HUT              .....  69 

DENDI  WOMAN,   HIGHER  UBANGHI   .               .               .  .70 

POTTERY  OF  ARUWIMI    .....  71 

NATIVE   OF  THE   EQUATOR                  .               .               .  .74 

DRUMS  FROM  THE   EQUATOR       ....  76 

MANG-BETTOU  NATIVE           .               .               .               .  ,78 

THROWING  KNIVES          .               .               ,               .               .  79 

INTERMENT  OF  A  CHIEF      .               .               ..              .  .81 

A  DANCING  WOMAN          .....  85 

WAR  MASKS  AND  THROWING  SPEARS             .              ,  .87 

TOBACCO  PLANTATION     .....  89 

WRESTLING  MATCH  ON  THE   CONGO               .               ,  .93 

NATIVE  AXES      ......  97 

TYPES  OF  CHIEFS    .  .  ...  99 

ABARAMBO  WOMAN  AND  MAN     ....  101 

NATIVES  OF  THE  UPPER  CONGO      .              .              .  .105 

WAR  DRUM          ......  109 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTBATIONS  xxix 

PAGE 

COFFEE  PLANTATION,   STANLEY  FALLS         ,  .  .111 

DISH  FROM  THE  EQUATOR  .  .  .  ,114 

GROUP  OF  YOUNG  GIRLS      .  .  .  ,  .117 

COUNCIL  OF  WAR,   BOPOTO  ....  120 

MASOMA,   SOUTH  OF  NAVA  ....  122 

MABODE   TATTOOING   (bACK  VIEw)  .  ,  ,  124 

MABODE   TATTOOING  (fRONT  VIEW)  «  •  .  125 

NATIVE  WITH  TATTOO  MARKS    .  ,  ,  ,  129 

ENSIGN  OF  CHIEF    .  .  .  ,  .  .131 

FETICH  .......  132 

BRIDGE   CONSTRUCTION  ON  THE  INKISSI      .  .  .  133 

MAVIMBA,   LOWER  CONGO  .  .  .  ,  136 

FIRST  BRICK  STATION  BUILT  ON  THE  HIGHER  CONGO         .  139 
FALLS  ON  THE   CONGO  ....  143 

HUMAN  SACRIFICE  .....  145 

AXES,   KASSAI     ......  150 

AXES,   KASSAI  ......  151 

BOY,   LEOPOLDYILLE        .....  155 

VILLAGE  ON  THE   CONGO     .  ,  .  .  ,  161 

AM.IRYLLIS  ......  165 

SANGO  TYPE        .  .  .  .  .  .170 

TRIBE  FROM  THE  UPPER  MONGALA  RIVER  ,  ,  173 

PIGMY     .......  175 

METHOD  OF  FISHING  ON  THE  CONGO  ,  ,  .  187 

A  BAS-CONGO  CARRIER  ....  189 

A  BAS-CONGO  CARRIER         .....  193 

BOY  AND  GIRL  WE.ARING  METAL  RINGS  ,  .  198 

VILLAGE  OF  KUNZI  .....  201 


XXX  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

DANCING-WOMAN  AND  ATTENDANTS        .              .              .  208 

A  DANCING  WOMAN                .....  209 

FUNERAL  DANCE,  BOPOTO  ,  .  .212 

FUNEEAL  DANCE,  BOPOTO  .  .  .  .213 

A  MISSION  CANOE            .....  216 

BANGAIiA  NATIVE  SMOKING  HEMP                  .              ,              .  218 

CONGO  HUT         .              .              .              ,              .              ,  224 

DISPENSARY  AT  BOMA           .....  226 

TYPE  OF  NATIVE  .  .  .  .  .229 

A  CORNER  OF  THE  STATION  OF  NOUVELLE  ANVERS             ,  231 

MISSION  AT  KIMWENZA                 ....  233 

MISSION  OF  EREBU               .....  236 

GORILLA  KILLED  AT  STANLEY  FALLS                   .              .  239 

NATIVE  KNIVES        ......  243 

CAMP  ON  THE  CONGO     .....  245 

FISHING  SETTLEMENT  IN  THE  RAPIDS         .              .              .  249 

METHOD  OF  FISHING  ON  THE  CONGO     .              .              .  251 

A  LIANA  IN  THE  LAND  OF  UMANGI               .              .              .  253 

YOUNG  COFFEE-TREES  SHADED  BY  BANANAS     .              ,  257 

NATIVE  BRIDGE        ......  261 

FISHING  ON  THE  CONGO              ....  265 

BRIDGE  OVER  THE  BUNDI                 .              .              •              .  269 

ON  THE  CONGO                 .....  273 

FALLS  OF  THE  TCHOPO        .....  277 

NATIVE  CLIMBING  PALM  TREE                 .              ,              .  281 


CHAPTEE  I 


Mr.  Stanley's  advertisement — I  am  ordered  to  Semio — The 
journey — Matadi — Lukungu — Leopoldville — The  principal 
races — Their  food — Their  dress — The  Musserong^s  — 
Fetish-priests — The  Babuendi — The  voyage  up  the  river 
— The  Eoman  Catholic  Mission — Equator  station — The 
Ubanghi — We  journey  in  dug-outs — Mokoangai — Banzy- 
ville — A  native's  idea  of  a  flogging — A  ransomed  slave — 
Yakoma — I  become  a  "  blood-brother  " — The  ceremony. 

~|~N  June,  1894,  hearing  that  Mr.  Stanley  had  been 


asked  by  the  Congo  Free  State  to  find  a  few 


Enghsh  officers  for  their  forces,  I  placed  myself 
at  his  disposal,  and  set  out  at  once  with  a  letter 
of  introduction  from  him  to  their  Secretary  of 
State,  who  was  then  at  Brussels.  Arrangements 
were  quickly  made,  and  within  a  week  I  was  on 
board  the  Konigin  Wilhehnina,  outward  bound 
for  Boma,  knowing  nothing  of  my  ultimate  des- 
tination, but  well  satisfied  at  holding  a  captain's 
commission  in  the  Force  PuhUque,  and  keen  for 
active  service  on  the  Upper  Congo. 


3 


4 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Hardly  had  we  landed  at  Boma  when  I  was  sent 
forward,  with  several  other  officers,  to  Matadi,  a 
rising  station  some  forty  miles  higher  up  the  Congo 
river,  where  we  fomid  everything  in  bustle  and 
confusion.  Caravans  were  arriving  from  up-country 
laden  with  ivory  and  rubber,  and  leaving  for 
Stanley  Pool  with  bales  of  cloth,  rolls  of  brass 
wire,  and  other  useful  merchandise.    Eecruits  fresh 


MATADI  (down-stream). 

from  the  West  Coast  were  amusingly  at  cross- 
purposes  with  their  officers,  who  spoke  but  little 
English ;  and  quarters  for  new  arrivals  were  so 
difficult  to  find  that  we  were  glad  to  be  allowed 
a  corner  for  our  beds  in  the  mess-room  when  our 
frugal  meal  was  at  an  end. 

Next  day  we  were  so  busy  arranging  our  baggage 
for  the  carriers,  seven  of  whom  were  allotted  to 
each  of  us  instead  of  twelve,  that  time  flew  fast, 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


7 


and  the  following  morning  we  started  along  the 
caravan  road  for  Stanley  Pool,  distant  about  230 
miles.  This  rough  track,  which  crosses  a  hilly 
district  east  of  Matadi,  is  mere  w^aste  land, 
unbroken  by  any  trees  or  signs  of  life.  Nothing 
more  dreary  can  be  imagined  than  its  bare  rocks 
and  stony  slopes,  and  scanty  blades  of  a  coarse, 
ragged  grass ;  nothing  more  cheerless  than  the 
dull  monotony  of  the  surrounding  landscape. 

At  each  stage  small  shelters  have  been  built  for 
the  use  of  the  State  agents — poor  huts  of  poles 
and  grass,  too  roughly  run  up  to  be  even  weather- 
proof, and  miserable  makeshifts  until  the  long- 
talked-of  railway  should  be  made. 

Ten  days'  march  brought  us  to  Lukungu,  a 
station  midway  between  Matadi  and  the  Pool, 
where  we  met  Baron  Dhanis  and  Doctor  Hinde 
making  for  the  coast,  homeward  bound  with  flying 
colours  after  their  successful  raid  against  Arab 
slave-dealers.  On  September  6th  we  reached 
Leopoldville,  a  station  first  planted  by  Mr. 
Stanley  on  a  hill  which  overlooks  the  great  sheet 
of  water  know^n  by  his  name. 

Waiting  here  for  a  steamer  to  take  us  on  to  the 
Upper  Congo,  we  found  ourselves  among  many 
white  traders  and  members  of  the  American  and 
French  Missions,  the  latter  established  with  a 
large  and  well-built  church.  The  native  tribes 
in  these  parts  include  the  Musseronges  on  the 


8 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


islands  and  river-side  from  Banana  to  Matadi ; 
the  Kakongos  on  the  right  bank,  between  the  sea 
and  Boma ;  the  Baoihs  along  the  coast,  and  the 
Mayombes  inland. 

Speaking  generally  the  people  of  the  Lower 
Congo  are  tall  and  well  built,  with  supple  limbs 
formed  more  for  agility  than  strength,  and  oval 
heads  and  faces,  quick  with  intelligent  vivacity. 
Their  women  are  larger  and  stronger  than  the 
men,  and  they  all,  in  common  with  other  races  of 
the  Congo,  are  remarkable  for  their  small  hands 
and  feet,  on  which  are  bracelets  and  anklets  of  a 
size  that  no  European  could  wear. 

Tattooing  is  very  general,  covering  but  a  small 
part  of  their  brown  bodies  ;  and  as  a  rule  the  hair 
is  worn  short.  Families  are  distinguished  by  a 
singular  method  of  filing  the  teeth  to  a  point,  or 
cutting  them  square,  or  in  regular  semicircles. 

The  Baoilis,  a  mixed  tribe  unfriendly  to  the 
whites,  live  upon  oysters,  and  distil  salt  from  sea 
water.  The  Mayombes,  a  wilder  race,  are  hand- 
some and  robust.  The  Musseronges  hold  them- 
selves aloof  entirely  from  the  rest,  and  are  so 
independent  that  not  even  the  most  imminent 
peril  will  induce  them  to  combine  with  their 
neighbours  against  a  common  enemy. 

The  food  of  these  tribes  on  the  coast  is  more 
varied  than  that  of  the  natives  in  the  interior  of 
Africa.     Their  women  do  the  cooking,  grinding 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


11 


and  sifting  the  manioc,  a  flour  which  forms  the 
groundwork  of  their  diet,  and  busy  with  household 
duties,  while  their  children  play  about  the  huts, 
and  babies  sleep  peacefully,  rocked  on  their 
mothers'  hips.  Over  a  fire  of  wood  that  burns 
between  three  large  stones  these  native  cooks 
prepare  an  excellent  broth,  a  hotchpot  of  odds  and 
ends  stewed  with  capsicum  in  palm  oil.  This 
they  eat   out   of   wooden   basins   with  wooden 


POTTERY  OF  LOWER  UBANGHI. 


spoons  and  knives,  drinking  from  earthenware  or 
carved  wood  cups ;  and  though  tables  are  un- 
known to  them  they  have  excellent  taste  in  the 
manufacture  of  porous  vases  and  pottery. 

In  habits  of  personal  cleanliness  these  African 
children  of  nature  are  a  wholesome  example  to 
many  in  more  civilised  life.  When  they  live  near 
the  river,  or  any  water,  they  bathe  several  times  a 
day,  and  in  forests  w^here  this  is  impossible  they 
smear  their  bodies  with  layers  of  oil  and  red 
powder,  which  they  scrape  off  frequently.  After 
each  meal  they  rinse  their  mouths  with  water,  and 


12 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


rub  their  teeth  with  the  forefinger  or  with  a  rude 
toothbrush  of  fibrous  wood. 

The  most  popular  costume — scanty,  but  suffi- 
cient for  the  cKmate — consists  of  gaudy  stuffs 
imported  from  Europe,  which  they  drape  in  bold 
folds  round  their  hips  and  loins.  Large  patterns 
and  a  change  of  fashion  are  a  delight  to  them, 
while  for  choice  of  colours  red,  white,  and  black 
find  special  favour  ;  yellow  does  not  come  amiss, 
blue  is  tolerated,  but  green  is  rejected  utterly. 

On  great  occasions  their  kings  and  princes 
array  themselves  in  grotesque  magnificence,  dis- 
carding trousers  altogether,  but  otherwise  be- 
decked with  bright  remnants  of  European  uniforms. 
Kings  in  full  dress  use  skins  of  leopards  or  wild 
cats  as  aprons,  and  carry  long  canes  tipped  with 
an  ivory  or  wooden  fetish  knob,  and  they  and 
their  subjects  of  all  ranks  and  both  sexes  wear 
large  earrings. 

Most  of  these  people  believe  in  the  existence  of 
a  Supreme  Being,  who  lives  above  the  clouds,  and 
does  not  trouble  Himself  about  mortals  whom  He 
has  created.  More  attention,  however,  is  paid  to 
their  fetiches,  or  petty  gods,  who  are  thought  to 
busy  themselves  with  the  affairs  of  men.  These, 
espeoially  the  fetich  of  death,  are  addressed  through 
priests,  the  ministers  of  fetich-worship,  who  consult 
the  image,  or  fetich,  in  cases  of  crime  or  injury,  in 
order   to   discover  who  is  guilty  of  the  deed. 


MASK  OF  MEDICINE  MAN, 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


15 


Crowned  with  leaves,  and  decked  with  tinsel, 
carrying  in  his  left  hand  a  bag  of  eagles'  beaks 
and  jackals'  claws,  drunk  with  palm  wine,  the 
priest  dances  and  yells,  and  ends  presently  by 
declaring  the  name  of  the  offender.  At  other 
times  he  will  pose  as  a  physician,  or  medicine-man, 
and  make  himself  a  terror  to  the  simple  folk  by  his 
assumption  of  supernatural  powers,  which  to  their 
credulous  minds  cloak  his  cruelty  and  avarice. 

We  shall  form  a  general  idea  of  the  people  of 
these  parts  if  we  picture  to  ourselves  a  village  in 
the  Babuendi  district,  with  a  cluster  of  perhaps 
three  hundred  huts  perched  on  the  hilltop,  clear  of 
any  danger  or  surprise.  These  huts  are  rectangular, 
with  overhanging  gables  and  verandas,  under  which 
natives  of  both  sexes  may  be  seen  smoking  clay 
pipes  with  stems  of  wood  or  iron.  If  caravans  are 
passing  porters  stop  to  refresh  themselves.  If  it 
is  meal  time  men  and  women  are  eating  apart  from 
one  another.  You  may  tell  the  married  women  by 
a  covering  worn  upon  their  breasts,  and  natives  of 
the  north  bank  by  their  pretty  headdresses  of 
palm  fibre.  All  the  women,  and  some  of  the  chief 
men,  show  an  increasing  taste  for  bracelets, 
anklets,  and  collars,  and  as  they  move  to  and 
fro  in  bright  sunshine  the  scene  is  at  once  novel 
and  picturesque. 

Our  voyage  up  the  river  was 'comparatively  un- 
eventful.   We  started  at  day-break,  keeping  close 


16 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


to  one  side  or  the  other,  under  thickly  wooded 
banks.  There  is  no  Hfe  to  be  seen  in  this  dense 
growth  of  trees,  brush,  and  creepers  except  an 
occasional  crocodile,  lying  like  a  log  at  the  water's 
edge,  or  a  solitary  monkey,  or  a  passing  flight  of 
screaming  grey  parrots.  At  about  five  o'clock  the 
boats  usually  made  fast  for  the  night  to  the  bank, 
while  the  whole  of  the  crew  and  black  passengers 
set  to  work  cutting  dry  wood  for  the  steamer's  con- 
sumption next  day.  Passing  the  post  of  Berghe 
St.  Marie,  where  stands  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Mission  and  colony  for  young  children,  and 
Tchumbiri,  we  reached  Lukolela,  the  post  founded 
by  Glave  in  18S3.  This  station,  situated  in  the 
midst  of  some  magnificent  giant  trees,  is  well 
known  to  every  white  man  in  the  State  because  of 
the  excellent  tobacco  grown  there,  and  the  timber 
will  be  valuable  when  means  are  found  of  convey- 
ing it  to  the  coast,  and  thence  to  the  European 
market. 

On  September  14th  we  arrived  at  the  Equator 
station,  where  we  enjoyed  the  delicious  luxuries  of 
fresh  bread  and  vegetables.  Ketracing  our  steps 
down  the  Congo,  we  ascended  the  Ubanghi,  which 
was  in  full  flood,  swollen  with  rains,  and  flowing 
with  so  strong  a  current  that  we  could  not  make 
much  way  against  the  stream. 

On  September  23rd  we  reached  Songo,  after 
passing  through  rapids  which  are  only  possible  for 


TYPE  OF  RECTANGULAR  HUT. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


19 


small  steamers.  Starting  forward  again  ^\ith  only 
two  other  white  men,  I  made  my  first  acquaintance 
with  "dug-out"  canoes.  There  wwe  five  rapids 
to  be  tackled  on  the  route,  but  by  keeping  close  to 
the  bank,  and  hauling  ourselves  along  by  means  of 
projecting  branches,  we  came  through  to  Mokoangai 
without  mishap.    Here  Captain  Tison,  the  com- 


THE   "  GOODWILL       STARTING  FROM  BOPOTO. 


mandant,  made  us  most  welcome,  and  did  all  in  his 
power  for  our  comfort  and  amusement,  so  that, 
though  sport  was  impossible  owing  to  the  marshy 
ground,  the  time  passed  pleasantly  enough  in  his 
company,  and  wdth  five  other  white  men,  two  of 
whom  were  stationed  there,  and  three  waiting,  as 
we  were,  for  the  steamer  to  take  them  on. 


20  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

We  left  Mokoangai  on  the  8tli  of  October  in  the 
small  paddle-steamer  En  Avant,  one  of  Stanley's 
original  fleet,  but  owing  to  the  head  of  water  in 
the  river  we  did  not  reach  Banzyville  until  the 


YOUNG  GIKL,   HIGHER  UBANGHI. 

16th.  This  station  is  built  at  the  very  edge  of  a 
large  rapid,  and,  with  its  excellent  kitchen  garden, 
is  the  work  of  Captain  Hermans,  an  officer  of  the 
Grenadiers.    The  houses  are  well  built  of  brick, 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


21 


and  the  garden  is  stocked  with  an  abundance  of 
vegetables  ;  fish,  too,  caught  by  the  natives  in  the 
rapids,  are  plentiful.  An  attack  of  fever  kept  me 
prisoner  here  for  nearly  a  fortnight. 

It  was  at  this  station  that  I  witnessed  an  amus- 
ing incident,  showing  the  faith  of  the  native  chiefs 
in  the  white  man's  power.  The  head-man  of  a 
neighbouring  village  came  to  complain  to  Captain 
Hermans  that -several  of  his  men  refused  to  obey 
his  orders.  He  requested  permission  to  bring  in 
the  culprits,  that  Captain  Hermans  might  have  a 
flogging  administered  to  them.  Naturally  the 
captain  was  disinclined  to  interfere  with  the 
domestic  policy  of  the  native  community,  but  as 
the  chief  insisted  that  he  was  himself  powerless 
to  inflict  adequate  punishment  upon  the  offenders, 
permission  was  given  to  bring  his  men  to  the 
station. 

No  one  thought  for  a  moment  that  he  would 
turn  up  again,  but  at  two  o'clock  he  reappeared 
with  four  men,  who  came  quite  willingly  and  with- 
out the  least  show  of  force.  On  being  introduced 
to  the  commandant  as  the  four  culprits,  they  all 
smiled  and  grinned,  as  though  they  were  enjoying 
their  share  in  some  great  joke.  They  were  asked 
if  they  had  been  brought  there  by  their  chief  to 
receive  punishment.  "  Oh  yes,  it  was  quite  true," 
they  said,  quite  correct — that  was  precisely  what 
they  had  come  for."     All  the  time  they  were 


22 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


laughing  and  smiling  in  complete  unconcern.  The 
commandant,  seeing  they  evidently  did  not  under- 
stand the  meaning  of  punishment,  and  after  again 
appealing  to  the  chief,  sent  for  a  corporal  and  told 
him  to  flog  the  four  men. 

Their  idea  of  receiving  punishment  was  peculiar. 


NATIVE  OF  HIGHER  UBANUIil. 


The  first  man  lay  down  on  his  stomach,  the  next 
man  lay  flat  on  top  of  him,  surmounted  by  the 
other  two.  Perhaps  they  thought  the  top  one 
could  be  thrashed  for  the  whole  party,  or  that  it 
might  make  things  easier  for  the  corporal.  When 
it   was   explained   that  each  was  to  be  beaten 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


23 


separately  there  was  a  slight  discussion  as  to  who 
should  receive  first  punishment.  Having  settled 
this  delicate  point  among  themselves,  the  three 
stood  by  to  look  on  w^hile  their  comrade  submitted 
to  his  strokes.  With  the  first  blow  the  gentleman 
on  the  ground  began  to  think  things  were  not  quite 
so  funny.  When  his  half-dozen  had  been  admini- 
stered he  rose  to  his  feet,  turned  round,  and 
looked  at  his  companions,  the  expression  on  his 
face  a  mixture  of  disgust  and  humour — disgust  at 
the  pain,  humour  in  his  pretence  that  the  operation 
was  not  at  all  a  painful  one,  so  that  he  might 
enjoy  its  effect  on  his  friends.  As  they  went 
away  at  last  the  chief  alone  w^as  laughing ;  the 
faces  of  the  others  were  serious  and  composed. 

The  following  fact  illustrates  the  untruth  of  the 
stories  of  inhumanity  with  which  the  Congo 
officers  are  so  often  charged.  While  I  was  at  the 
station  some  natives  from  the  neighbourhood 
brought  in  a  man  whom  they  had  caught.  He 
was  from  the  interior,  and  would  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events  have  been  killed  and  eaten  by  his 
captors,  who  had  fastened  him  to  a  heavy  block  of 
wood,  so  that  he  could  not  escape.  Without 
hesitation  Hermans  bought  him  for  fifty  pieces  of 
iron,  and  after  a  short  time  set  him  free,  and  sent 
him  home. 

The  French  have  also  a  station  at  Banzyville, 
standing  on  the  high  bank  on  the  opposite  side  of 


24 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


the  river  to  that  of  the  Congo  State,  which  is  at 
the  water's  edge. 

Embarking  from  Banzyville  in  dug-outs,  I  arrived 
at  Yakoma  on  the  2nd  of  November,  the  voyage 
being  made  without  particular  event,  except  for  the 
diversion  of  passing  occasional  rapids.  We  found 
that  the  station  on  the  right  bank,  which  had  been 
given  over  to  the  French,  was  completely  sub- 
merged, and  that  the  State  station  was  in  course 
of  construction  on  the  left  bank ;  but,  as  there  was 
no  house  finished,  only  a  few  huts  were  available 
for  our  accommodation. 

At  Yakoma  I  found  M.  Georges  le  Marinel, 
captain  of  Engineers,  and  Inspector  of  State  for 
the  Ubanghi  district,  the  officer  who  conducted 
negotiations  with  the  French  diplomatists  with 
reference  to  the  relative  boundaries,  and  owing  to 
whose  courtesy,  tact,  and  diplomacy,  friction  be- 
tween France  and  Belgium  was  avoided.  On  the 
day  that  I  arrived  a  French  officer  from  the  other 
bank  had  sent  over  a  dozen  bottles  of  wine  as  a 
present — a  very  welcome  addition  to  our  supplies. 

Leaving  Yakoma  on  the  9th  of  November,  my 
troubles  began.  Hitherto  everything  had  gone 
smoothly  and  without  a  check.  I  was  accompanied 
by  Lieutenant  Devenyns  of  the  twelfth  line  regi- 
ment, and  fifty  men.  We  were  given  two  Norden- 
feldt  seven-pounders  with  all  accessories,  and  some 
fifty  cases  of  shot  and  shell.    These,  with  our  own 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  27 

baggage,  more  than  filled  the  five  large  canoes 
which  had  been  placed  at  our  disposal.  For 
the  first  two  days  the  voyage  was  easy  enough, 
hindered  by  no  broken  water  or  very  rapid 
currents ;  but  difficulties  and  dangers  were  soon 
to  overtake  us. 

It  was  on  this  journey  that  I  first  saw  the  cere- 
mony of  blood-brotherhood.    A  little  chief  insisted 
on  becoming  my  blood-brother,  and,  anxious  to  see 
how  it  was  done,  I  consented.    The  rite  was  carried 
out  in  the  following  manner:  in  the  open  air,  and 
in  the  presence  of  all  the  assembled  chiefs  and 
people,  I  was  seated  opposite  to  my  prospective 
brother.    A  small  incision  was  made  in  each  of 
our  forearms,  half-way  between  the  hand  and  elbow, 
from  which  a  little  blood  oozed.     The  proper 
performance  wo  aid  have  been  for  each  of  us  to 
lick  the  blood  of  the  other,  but  on  this  occasion  we 
decided  to  dispense  with  that  part  of  the  rite, 
merely  rubbing  the  cuts  one  against  the  other,  and 
thus  commingling   our  blood.     When  this  was 
done  the  representative  of  my  "brother"  got  up 
and  began  to  beat  two  pieces  of  metal  together — 
a  knife  and  a  gun-barrel,  I  think  they  happened  to 
be — keeping  up  a  monotonous  tink,  tink,  tink, 
and  talking  to  me  as  he  did  so.    He  recited  a  sort 
of  commination  service,  somewhat  to  the  following- 
effect  :  "If  you  ever  make  war  on  me,  if  you  ever 
steal  from  me,  if  you  ever  wound  me,  &c.,  &c., 


28 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


may  you  die  !  "  This  is  a  good  opportunity  for 
him  in  case  he  may  want  to  get  anything  from 
you,  so  his  incantation  often  contains  such  threats 
as,  ''If  you  do  not  give  me  plenty  of  guns,  may 
you  die!  "  After  this,  a  similar  performance  was 
gone  through  by  my  representative,  whose  business 
it  was  to  nullify  my  new  brother's  subtle  demands. 
Finally  the  compact  was  sealed  by  an  exchange  of 
small  presents. 

This  custom  is  not  by  any  means  a  local  one, 
but  is  found  among  nearly  all  the  tribes  that  in- 
habit the  districts  of  Central  Africa.  Stanley 
submitted  to  the  operation  often  enough  to  have 
reason  to  complain  that  his  arm  became  quite  sore 
from  the  effects  of  these  frequent  incisions. 


WOODEN   SPOONS  FROM  THE  EQUATOR. 


IN  THE  RAPIDS. 


CHAPTEE  II 


A  tornado — Extra  padcllemen  wanted — Lieutenant  Devenyns 
obliged  to  proceed  by  land — Strike  of  canoe-men — The 
rapids — A  canoe  sinks — Desertion  of  the  paddlemen— We 
surprise  a  village — A  press-gang — Interpretation  under 
difficulties — A  portage — Dahia  breaks  his  promise — I  camp 
on  an  island — Canoe-men  anxious  to  work — Konirah — I 
learn  my  destination — Djabbir  —  M'Bima — The  ransom 
of  a  condemned  wizard — Arrival  at  N'Yangara. 

the  11th  of   XoYciiiber,  on   our  way  to 


Djabbir,  on  the  Welle,  we  were  caught  in 


a  tornado,  and  were  obliged  to  stop  at  the 
nearest  village  to  avoid  being  swamped.  The 
first  sign  of  its  approach  was  a  strong  breeze, 
accompanied  by  a  rushing  sound  like  nothing  else 
in  nature,  caused  by  distant  rain  falling  on  the 
leaves  of  forest  trees.  We  heard  this  long  before 
it  reached  us.  At  first  a  mere  rustle,  it  increased 
gradually  in  volume  of  sound,  till  the  heavy  rain- 
fall was  upon  us  with  a  roar  that  was  almost 
deafening.    A  wild  wind  succeeded  the  breeze. 


31 


32 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


and  the  river,  placid  a  few  moments  before,  began 
to  run  in  high  waves.  Lightning  followed,  with 
heavy  thunder,  louder  than  any  Indian  thunder- 
storms of  my  experience. 

The  village  in  which  we  had  taken  refuge  con- 
sisted of  a  few  wretched  mud  huts,  through  the 
thatch  of  which  the  rain  dropped  incessantly  as 
through  a  sieve.  Making  the  best  of  a  bad  case, 
we  tried  to  settle  down  as  comfortably  as  cir- 
cumstances would  allow,  tormented  by  mosquitos, 
the  dripping  of  the  rain,  and  smoke  from  the 
greenwood  lire. 

The  storm  cleared  off,  and  early  next  morn- 
ing w^e  started  in  fine  weather,  arriving  at  the 
village  of  M'pota.  Here  we  found  that  several 
extra  paddlemen  would  be  necessary  to  enable 
us  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  the  rapids  higher 
up,  and  as  it  was  no  easy  matter  to  secure  fresh 
canoe-men,  I  sent  Lieutenant  Devenyns  with 
forty  men  by  land  to  Djabbir,  keeping  with  me 
four  soldiers  as  interpreters  (the  reason  why  four 
interpreters  were  needed  will  be  seen  later  on) 
and  six  soldiers  who  were  on  the  sick-list. 

Our  troubles  now  began  in  real  bitter  earnest. 
Having  got  together,  with  the  aid  of  the  chief, 
some  seventy  men  to  work  the  four  big  canoes,  I 
started,  laden  with  my  own  baggage  and  the 
lieutenant's,  the  two  Nordenfeldt  guns,  and  am- 
munition in  about  fifty  cases.    At  four  o'clock 


9 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


35 


we  reached  the  first  rapids,  where  the  canoe-men 
insisted  upon  camping  for  the  night,  and  next 
morning  they  one  and  all  refused  to  start  unless 
they  received  a  present  of  beads.  As  this  was 
quite  contrary  to  their  agreement,  and  as  I  only 
possessed  about  two  pounds  weight  of  beads,  I 
objected,  and  after  much  talk  through  the  medium 


BANANAS 


of  my  interpreters  persuaded  the  grumblers  to 
move  on. 

Leaving  at  7.30  a.m.,  we  passed  the  first  rapid 
by  eleven  o'clock.  The  canoe-men  now  demanded 
food,  stating  that  they  had  no  means  of  buying 
any.  Stopping  at  an  island  village  on  the  river,  I 
bought  sufiicient  bananas  for  every  one,  but  here 


36 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


again  they  were  dissatisfied — they  did  not  want 
bananas,  they  wanted  beads.  Seeing  that  the 
whole  thing  was  simply  a  device  to  shirk  further 
work,  I  divided  the  bananas  among  the  four 
canoes  and  placed  one  soldier  in  each  boat,  and 
by  dint  of  threats  we  started  again  to  navigate 
the  second  rapids.  Three  of  the  canoes  passed 
safely  through,  but  the  fourth  sank,  so  we  were 
obliged  to  return,  and  with  great  difficulty  man- 
aged to  refloat  it,  ultimately  recovering  most  of 
its  contents.  I  camped  for  the  night  on  a  small 
island  in  mid-stream,  so  that  none  of  the  crew 
should  have  an  opportunity  to  bolt,  but  during 
the  night  they  found  other  canoes  hidden  on  the 
banks,  and  in  the  morning  I  awoke  to  find  myself, 
my  ten  soldiers,  and  four  heavily  laden  canoes 
without  a  single  paddleman.  Happily  we  found 
a  small  village  at  the  upper  end  of  the  island, 
where  we  succeeded  m  obtaining  a  few  men. 

My  difficulties  w^ere  increased  by  my  ignorance 
of  the  native  languages,  and  I  now  found  the 
value  of  the  foiw  interpreters,  two  of  whom  were 
Houssas,  one  a  Mobanghi,  and  the  fourth  a  Sierra 
Leone.  Now  to  get  at  the  natives  I  had  to  tell 
the  Sierra  Leone  what  I  wanted  in  pidgin-English, 
and  to  make  him  understand  it ;  he  then  trans- 
lated my  meaning  into  some  "West  Coast  dialect  to 
one  of  the  Houssas,  who  put  it  to  the  other  in  his 
tongue ;  this   one,  in  turn,   rendered  what  he 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


37 


heard  into  Bangala — not  of  the  very  best — to  the 
Mobanghi,  who  finally  told  it  in  Zande  to  the  chief. 
The  possibilities  of  misconception  under  this  pro- 
cess are  obvious,  and  I  am  perfectly  certain  that 
my  questions  very  often  reached  headquarters  in 


MOBANGHI  NATIVE. 


a  form  quite  other  than  that  in  which  they  had 
been  put. 

On  the  third  day,  lightening  one  of  the  big 
canoes,  I  sent  it  up  the  river  to  the  village  of 
Dahia,  a  brother  of  the  Sultan  of  Djabbir,  to 
bring  back  a  few  more  paddlemen,  so  that  I  might 
move  on  with  the  three  remaining  vessels.    I  was 


38 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


obliged  to  wait  a  day  before  they  returned  with 
some  forfcy  or  fifty  men,  when  we  started  again, 
and  arrived  at  1  p.m.  just  below  the  rapids, 
near  to  where  Dahia's  village  was  situated.  Here 
the  natives  absolutely  refused  to  take  the  boats 
over  the  rapids,  declaring  that  the}^  were  far  too 
dangerous.  I  was  obliged  to  unload  all  the  canoes, 
and  leaving  a  soldier  in  charge  of  the  baggage  I 
started  for  Dahia's  village,  which  was  about  two 
miles  off,  and  was  fortunate  in  finding  that  M. 
Devenyns  had  been  waiting  my  arrival  for  two 
days.  At  last  I  thought  my  troubles  were  at  an 
end.  Dahia  arrived,  promising  as  many  canoes 
and  men  as  I  chose  to  ask  for,  and  bringing  plenty 
of  food.  He  provided  also  men  enough  to  carry 
the  whole  of  the  guns  and  other  things  unloaded 
from  the  boats  below  the  rapids  into  the  village 
where  we  encamped,  and  I,  relying  upon  the  word 
of  Dahia,  awaited  the  arrival  of  my  canoes  and 
men. 

In  about  an  hour's  time  one  small  canoe  arrived, 
propelled  by  two  men,  who  promptly  disappeared 
after  tying  it  up  to  the  bank,  but  in  less  than  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  it  had  sunk,  having  sprung  a 
leak.  The  whole  day  was  spent  in  negotiations 
with  Dahia  for  more  canoes  and  men.  Finally 
I  managed  to  get  one  fair-sized  boat  and  eight 
men,  with  no  hope  of  any  further  help.  I  was 
compelled  to  send  one  canoe  on  in  advance,  with 


THE  SULTAN  DJABBIK. 


» 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


41 


orders  to  leave  its  load  at  the  next  post,  with  a 
soldier  in  charge,  and  to  return  myself  with  boat 
and  men  to  take  along  a  further  portion  of  the 
baggage.  By  this  means  I  advanced  in  four  days 
a  distance  that  under  favourable  circumstances 
might  easily  be  covered  in  one. 


CONGO  CAXOi:. 


On  the  fourth  day  I  embarked  with  the  balance  of 
the  baggage  and  loads,  but  did  not  reach  the  next 
post  of  Bussendi  until  nine  o'clock  at  night, 
having  been  wet  through  since  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  Here  there  was  nothing  left  to  me 
but  to  have  recourse  to  the  same  tactics,  if  we 

10 


42 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


were  to  reach  the  succeeding  post.  Late  on  this 
day  when  I  left  with  the  last  load,  after  paddling 
for  hours  against  a  powerful  current,  I  asked  how 
far  we  had  still  to  pull,  and  was  met  at  every 
inquiry  by  the  reply,  "only  a  short  way." 

We  continued  thus  until  eight  o'clock  at  night, 
when  the  canoe-men  politely  informed  me  that 
they  did  not  think  they  could  reach  the  post  that 
night.  They  suggested  that  they  should  go  ashore 
and  sleep,  leaving  me  and  my  two  soldiers  in  the 
canoe.  Here  was  an  imjKtsse  indeed ;  it  required 
some  nerve  to  storm  the  dangerous  position,  and  I 
faced  it  firmly,  knowing  well  that  I  should  never 
see  them  again  if  they  once  got  ashore.  It  was 
pitch  dark,  and  I  had  no  idea  where  I  was,  so, 
seeing  that  they  intended  to  do  no  more  work,  I 
was  compelled  to  tie  up  to  a  clump  of  trees  on  a 
submerged  island,  having  at  least  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  my  men  could  not  quit  the  boat, 
and  that  they  would  be  extremely  uncomfortable 
during  the  chilly  night.  Supperless  and  cold,  we 
waited  for  the  first  glimpse  of  dawn,  when  I  found 
them  anxious  enough  to  push  on,  as  they  were  cold 
and  hungry. 

Continuing  our  course  up  the  river,  we  soon 
arrived  at  Konirah.  Here  fortunately  I  found  one 
of  Djabbir's  corporals,  who  was  willing  and  able  to 
do  all  that  I  required.  Being  an  Azande  he  rapidly 
found  means  of  supplying  seven  canoes,  and  eighty 


t 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


45 


men  to  work  them.  From  this  point  I  had  no 
difficulty,  the  corporal,  who  accompanied  us  to 
Djabbir,  using  his  stick  freely  on  the  slightest  sign 
of  laziness  or  disaffection  on  the  part  of  the 
paddlemen.  We  arrived  at  Djabbir  on  the  26th 
at  eleven  o'clock,  having  taken  twenty- three  days 
to  accomplish  what  is  really  a  nine  days'  journey, 
and  found  M.  Devenyns  there  waiting  for  me. 

Owing  t6  arrangements  that  had  been  made  in 
the  meantime  between  France  and  the  Congo 
State,  my  destination  was  here  changed  from 
Semio  to  N'Yangara,  an  alteration  which  I  found 
later  there  was  no  reason  to  regret,  for  my  original 
goal  was  to  have  been  the  deserted,  swamp- 
surrounded  station  of  Meshr-el-Eek,  whence  pro- 
bably I  should  never  have  returned  alive. 

On  arriving  at  Djabbir  I  was  agreeably  surprised 
to  find  three  Englishmen  already  comfortably 
installed — Dr.  Small,  whom  I  had  left  at  Leopold- 
ville.  Captain  Salusbury,  and  the  ill-fated  Sergeant 
Grahame.  For  the  first  time  since  my  arrival  in 
the  country  I  met  a  really  important  chief.  On 
entering  the  mess-room  I  was  formally  introduced 
to  a  quiet,  shrewd-looking  native  gentlemen  in  the 
uniform  of  a  captain  of  the  Force  Fuhlique.  This 
was  Djabbir,  the  chief  of  the  Abandjia  branch  of 
the  great  Azande  tribe,  who,  I  found,  frequently 
came  to  take  his  midday  meal  with  the  officers  of 
the  station,  and  appeared  quite  at  ease  in  European 


46 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


surroundings,  both  at  table  and  elsewhere.  He 
has  always  proved  himself  a  staunch  friend  to  the 
white  man,  being  far-sighted  enough  to  foresee  his 
eventual  domination  in  Central  Africa. 

At  Djabbir  I  found  State  Inspector  Paul  le 
Marinel,  with  seven  other  Europeans,  all  bound 
up  the  river.  After  a  week  occupied  in  drilling 
our  men  I  moved  on  with  Lieutenant  Kops  and 
a  hundred  men,  this  time  overland,  making  for 
N'Yangara.  Marching  along  the  northern  bank 
of  the  Welle  through  forest  and  occasional  open 
plains,  we  arrived  on  the  26th  of  December  at  the 
post  of  M'Bima.  Here  we  crossed  to  the  southern 
side,  and  after  a  stay  of  two  days  we  followed 
along  this  bank  as  far  as  the  native  post  of 
Ciassi.  At  a  small  Azande  settlement  on  the 
road  some  of  my  men  came  to  tell  me  that  the 
chief  of  the  village  was  going  to  kill  one  of  his 
men  for  witchcraft.  The  unfortunate  fellow,  a 
small  and  ugly  specimen  of  his  race,  had,  it  appears, 
been  guilty  of  an  amiable  indiscretion  with  one  of 
the  chief's  wives.  After  some  conversation  with 
the  chief  I  ransomed  the  prisoner  at  the  price  of 
two  yards  of  white  cloth,  on  the  condition  that  I 
might  take  him  away  with  me.  Needless  to  say 
this  victim  of  circumstances  was  only  too  glad  to 
fall  in  with  my  terms ;  and  he  remained  with  me 
for  some  fifteen  months  in  the  capacity  of  a  servant, 
eventually  returning  to  his  village  at  his  own 
request. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


49 


Crossing  the  river  once  more  at  Ciassi,  we 
followed  the  northern  bank  as  far  as  the  post 
of  Bomokandi,  so  called 
from  its  being  the  point 
of  junction  of  the  Bomo- 
kandi  and  Welle  rivers. 
After  one  day's  march 
further  we  again  crossed 
the  river  for  the  last 
time  to  the  south  side, 
reaching  the  post  of 
Amadis  on  the  19th  of 
January,  and  taking  again 
to  canoes  arrived  at 
N'Yangara  on  the  26th 
of  the  month.  During 
the  whole  of  this  march 
from  Djabbir  to  Amadas, 
about  250  miles,  1  saw 
not  a  single  elephant, 
although  nearly  every 
morning,  when  starting,  we  came  across  innumer- 
able traces  of  them. 


WOMAN  CAia:\IXG  MANIOC. 


11 


CHAPTER  III 


A  punitive  expedition — A  deserted  country — The  column 
surprised  —  The  Azande  charge  —  Eout  of  the  Sierra 
Leone — We  fall  back  to  Dongu — I  am  sent  to  establish 
a  new  post — I  am  given  charge  of  the  district  of  the 
Upper  Welle — Its  aspect — Altitude — Navigation — Chmate 
— Native  names  for  the  months — Tribal  divisions — The 
Azande  —  Their  origin  a  mystery  —  Their  country  — 
Hunters — Pottery — Status  of  the  women  among  them 
— War-dress  of  the  chiefs — Morality — The  warriors — 
Their  weapons — Beer — Their  methods  of  execution  — 
Superstition — Not  nomadic,  but  absorbing — Their  village 
— Type  of  face — Possible  Semitic  origin — The  chiefs — 
Crafts,  military  science,  primitive  jurisprudence  and  trial 
by  ordeal — The  oracle  of  Beiige. 

A  T  N'Yangara  I  found  the  commissioner  of 


the  district  making  his  final  preparations 


before  marching  against  the  Azande  chiefs 
in  the  north.  On  the  2nd  of  February  a  column 
of  670  rifles,  officered  by  ten  white  men,  the  whole 
under  command  of  the  commissioner,  set  out  from 
N'Yangara  in  a  north-easterly  direction. 


50 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


51 


After  nine  days'  march  through  a  country 
practically  uninhabited — for  it  had  been  entirely 
deserted  by  the  people — on  the  morning  of  the 
11th  of  February  our  three  columns  were  suddenly 
confronted  by  the  Azande,  and  a  square,  rapidly 
formed,  was  attacked  on  both  flanks,  while  against 
its  front  face  three  lines  of   yelling  spearmen 


WOMEN  CARRYING  RICE  AFTER  THE  HARVEST. 


charged  across  the  open  ground.  The  Sierra 
Leone  companies  broke  and  fled,  and  the  Azande 
rushed  through  the  square,  inflicting  a  loss  of 
some  sixty  killed,  including  one  white  man,  and 
wounding  about  the  same  number. 

The  fugitives  had  fortunately  been  stopped  by 
the  company  of  Mobanghi  soldiers  at  the  rear  face 


52 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


of  the  square,  who  thus  averted  complete  and 
absolute  disaster.  As  it  was  impossible  to  carry 
out  our  original  plan,  owing  to  the  dejected  and 
disorganised  state  of  the  three  Sierra  Leone  com- 
panies, and  the  heavy  loss  sustained  by  the  Houssa 
company  of  thirty-six  killed  and  more  than  that 


MOBANGHI  NATIVE. 


number  wounded,  out  of  a  total  of  a  103,  the  ex- 
pedition fell  back  to  the  fortified  station  at  Dongu, 
situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Dongu  and  Kibali 
rivers,  where  we  arrived  on  the  24th  of  February. 

On  the  28th,  with  two  hundred  men  and  Lieut. 
Niclot,  I  was  sent  to  establish  a  new  post  in  the 
territory  of  the   Abangba   chief    Kabasidu,  six 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


53 


hours  south-west  of  the  Dongu,  the  main  object 
to  be  gained  being  to  supply  the  garrison  at  that 
place,  amounting  in  all  to  some  1,200  souls,  with 
food  and  grain  collected  from  the  Mangbettou 
country.  This  post  was  eventually  handed  over 
by  me,  at  the  latter  end  of  August,  to  Lieut. 
Swinhufvud,  a  Swedish  officer  in  the  service  of  the 
State,  when  I  was  called  upon  to  take  command  of 
the  Makua'  district,  consisting  of  the  posts  N'Yan- 
gara,  Surnanga,  Amadis  on  the  Welle,  Pokko  on 
the  Bomokandi  river,  and  the  whole  country  south 
to  the  Eubi  and  the  Nepoko  rivers.  Over  this 
tract  I  constantly  journeyed  throughout  its  length 
and  breadth,  visiting  every  chief  of  importance, 
and  securing  his  adhesion  to  the  Government  of 
the  State.  Thus  I  had  ample  opportunity  to  study 
the  habits,  customs,  and  rites  of  these  peoples,  the 
Mangbettou,  and  their  kindred  tribes. 

The  district  with  which  I  am  chiefly  concerned 
is  that  of  the  Upper  Welle,  which  extends  from 
twenty-three  degrees  in  the  west,  runs  eastward  to 
the  Nile  at  the  most  northerly  point  of  the  Congo 
Free  State,  and  has  for  its  northern  boundary 
the  M'Bomu,  stretching  five  degrees  north.  The 
southern  boundary,  which  cannot  be  accurately 
defined,  is  the  watershed  between  the  Aruwimi 
and  the  Welle. 

The  country  is  irrigated  by  the  Eiver  Welle, 
together  with  the  tributaries  Bomokandi,  M'Bima, 


54 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Werre,  and  some  lesser  affluents.  To  the  north  of 
the  Wehe,  m  its  ^Yestern  portion,  the  land  is  covered 
to  a  great  extent  with  thick  forest ;  the  central 
and  easterly  parts  consist  of  large  open  grass 
plains,  varied  by  undulating,  rocky  ground, 
sparsely  covered  with  scrub  bush.  South  of  the 
river  the  country  presents  an  entirely  different 


WITCH  PEOCESSION  '   GIRLS  DECORATED  WITH  BEADS. 


aspect,  being  dotted  over  with  numerous  villages, 
which  are  surrounded  by  large  and  thriving  plan- 
tations of  maize,  banana,  cassava,  millet,  sesame, 
and  maroo.  On  the  northern  bank  the  land  is 
almost  worthless,  but  below  this,  where  the  agri- 
cultural tribes  are  settled,  the  country  is  much 
richer  and  better,  and  soil  is  in  the  highest  degree 
fitted  for  agriculture.    So  fertile  is  the  land,  and 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


55 


in  such  abundance  does  it  yield  food,  that  the 
natives  need  work  but  two  months  in  every  twelve. 
There  is  no     agricultural  depression  "  here. 

As  no  free  salt  is  to  be  found  in  these  regions, 
this  most  necessary  condiment  has  to  be  produced 
artificially,  and  is  extracted  by  all  the  tribes  in 
this  neighbourhood  from  papyrus  plants. 

The  altitude  of  the  district  of  the  Upper  Welle, 
at  twenty-eight  and  a  half  degrees  east  and  three 
and  a  half  degrees  north,  is  2,500  feet  above  the 
sea,  descending  in  its  western  portion  at  twenty- 
four  degrees  east  and  four  degrees  north,  to  1,400 
feet.  The  river  is  navigable  almost  throughout 
its  entire  course.  There  are  a  few  rapids,  where 
portage  of  goods  is  necessary,  but  the  boats  them- 
selves can  travel  the  whole  distance  without 
difficulty.  The  rainy  season  begins  about  the 
middle  of  July  and  lasts  till  about  the  middle 
of  December.  It  does  not  rain  continuously  for 
two  or  three  days  together,  but  generally  in  the 
afternoons  and  at  night.  The  shorter  rainy 
season  is  from  about  the  15th  of  February  to 
the  15th  of  March.  During  the  other  months 
of  the  year,  though  the  climate  is  warm,  the 
temperature  rarely  exceeds  92  degrees  Fahrenheit. 
The  nights  are  always  cool  and  fresh,  accom- 
panied by  heavy  dews,  but  there  is  much  malaria 
in  the  country,  owing  to  the  large  quantity  of 
water  and  marshy  tracts. 


56 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


By  some  of  the  tribesmen  names  are  given  to 
the  months  in  keeping  with  what  is  done  in  them. 
Thus  one  is  named  as  that  ,  in  which  they  sow 
maroo,  the  chief  ingredient  used  in  brewing  native 
beer ;  another  as  the  season  when  maroo  must  be 
cut.  Following  this  comes  the  "bad-water" 
month,  when  the  risk  of  fever  is  greatest ;  then 
elephant  month,  when  they  catch  elephants  by 


AZANDE  FETICHES. 


burning  the  grass;  and  the  white-ant  month, 
during  which  white  ants  are  collected,  and  con- 
sidered a  great  delicacy ;  and  a  second  maroo 
month,  when  a  second  crop  is  sown.  The  month 
next  to  this  has  no  distinctive  name,  and  is 
succeeded  by  the  second  maroo  harvest  month  ; 
the  hungry,  or  water-month,  when  provisions  are 
scarce  ;  the  second  ant-gathering  month  ;  a  later 
sowing   month ;    and,  finally,  another   with  no 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


67 


particular  title.  This  very  simple  method  is  a 
decided  improvement  on  the  scheme  set  forth  in 
exquisite  elegiacs  by  Ovid  in  his  "Fasti."  Nothing 
supernatural  is  suggested,  no  names  of  deities  are 
introduced,  but  each  month  is  directly  connected 
with  some  current  and  natural  event. 


AZANDE  NATIVE. 

So  far  as  I  could  gather  by  inquiry  and 
observation,  the  characteristics  of  each  tribe  are 
constant  and  continuous.  At  their  head  in  point 
of  interest  and  superiority  stand  the  Azande,  who, 
according  to  tradition,  came  down  from  the  north. 
Being  now  settled  north  of  the  Welle,  they  are 
gradually  pushing  their  way  southward   to  the 

12 


58 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


more  fertile  land  across  the  river  and  toward  the 
north  bank  of  the  Congo  ;  indeed,  had  not  the 
white  man  been  present  to  check  their  advance, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  by  this  time  they 
would  have  completely  absorbed  the  various  other 
tribes  established  south  of  the  Welle.  They  have 
no  records  of  their  origin,  and  possess  no 
traditional  history  save  a  mere  genealogy  of  the 
last  seven  generations  of  the  ruling  chief's  family. 
In  this  respect  they  altogether  differ  from  all 
Aryan  nations,  who  invariably  preserve  traditions 
of  race  and  origin. 

The  Azande  district  stretches  from  twenty- 
three  degrees  to  thirty  degrees  west,  and  from 
six  degrees  north  to  three  degrees  south ;  its 
people  are  scattered  over  the  whole  country, 
and  are  subdivided  into  the  Abandjia  in  the 
west,  the  iVvongura  in  the  centre,  and  the 
Makraka  in  the  east.  They  are  a  fighting- 
tribe,  using  military  formations  in  war,  and  the 
rule  of  their  chiefs  is  absolutely  despotic. 
Mighty  hunters  too,  most  of  their  time  is  spent 
during  peace  in  pursuit  of  the  elephant  and 
antelope,  which  abound  in  the  bush  and  plains 
of  their  land.  As  a  rule  the  women  do  all  house- 
work and  cultivate  the  fields,  as  in  other  tribes, 
but  have  no  influence  in  political  or  outside 
matters,  as  have  the  Mangbettou  women.  The 
whole  race  are  confirmed  cannibals,  although  the 


AZANDE  EENIBA. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


61 


Azande  south  of  the  Welle  alone  allow  women 
and  children  to  eat  human  flesh,  and  the  men 
eat  only  those  whom  they  have  slain  in  battle. 

The  Azande  make  fairly  good  pottery  of 
different  shapes,  including  the  three-necked  jar, 
similar  to  those  of  Italian  workmanship. 

They  are  very  fond  of  their  women,  neither 
buying  nor  selling  them.  Coupled  with  this 
good  quality  comes  their  love  of  music,  for  these 
people  are  very  musical,  playing  with  great  skill 
a  kind  of  guitar  and  the  Keniba,  a  sort  of 
xylophone,  made  of  pieces  of  wood  that  vary  in 
length  and  shape,  mounted  on  gourds  of  different 
sizes,  and  struck  by  hammers  tipped  with  rubber. 

The  Azande  use  tobacco,  but  more  sparingly 
than  other  tribes.  Their  pipes  are  made  of  wood, 
with  a  bowl  of  clay.  Corn  and  cassava  are  their 
principal  food ;  potatoes  too  are  planted,  but  are 
eaten  only  when  they  are  pressed  by  hunger. 
They  are  extremely  fond  of  the  ground-nut,  which 
they  grow  in  large  quantities.  In  hunting  they 
use  dogs  to  drive  the  game  into  nets  prepared  and 
spread.  These  dogs  are  of  a  special  breed,  some- 
thing in  the  style  of  a  boarhound,  only  upon  a 
very  reduced  scale. 

When  Azande  chiefs  go  to  war  they  dress 
themselves  in  the  most  ragged  clothes  they  can 
find.  Their  old  caps  have  holes  in  them,  their 
shields  are  worn  and  battered,  and  their  knives  are 


62 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


rusty  and  chipped.  To  look  at  them  you  would 
imagine  them  to  be  the  poorest  of  the  poor.  At 
night  they  lie  down  among  their  followers  without 
any  covering,  and  will  not  even  have  a  bed  to  rest 
upon,  so  that  they  may  not  be  recognised  by  the 
enemy.  Indeed,  even  among  his  own  people  in 
times  of  peace  the  big  Azande  chief  is,  as  a  rule, 
quite  quietly  and  simply  dressed,  mach  more  so 
than  the  people  around  him,  and  he  wears  no 
ornaments. 

A  much  higher  standard  of  morality  is  found 
among  these  natives  than  in  other  tribes,  and 
they  show  real  affection  and  respect  for  women, 
who  as  a  rule  have  their  quarters  in  a  separate 
village  in  the  bush,  some  two  hundred  yards  from 
the  hut  of  the  chief,  where  they  are  practically 
inaccessible  to  the  white  man. 

One  of  their  principal  pleasures  is  to  dance, 
moving  round  and  round  in  a  circle,  shufiiing 
their  feet,  and  swaying  their  heads  and  hands  in 
time  to  the  beat  of  a  war-drum. 

Very  cunning  as  traders,  they  will  haggle  over 
a  bargain  for  a  long  time,  and  when  it  is  struck 
at  last  they  will  still  hold  out  importunately  for 
presents,  without  the  smallest  sense  of  shame. 

The  men  are  of  medium  height,  well  made,  and 
darkish  red  in  colour.  They  have  no  distinctive 
tattoo  mark,  except  among  the  Western  branch  of 
the  Azande,  who  have  adopted  the  lateral  tattoo 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


65 


mark  of  the  race  they  have  conquered,  the 
Mobanghi.  The  hair  and  beard  are  worn  in  long 
thin  plaits,  and  over  the  head  they  very  often 
throw  a  loose  net  made  of  string,  which  falls  down 
on  the  nape  of  the  neck.    They  dress  in  bark 


AZANDE  WEAPONS 


cloth,  pressed  and  beaten  out,  like  the  Mang- 
bettou,  and  wear  the  same  small  circular  cap  of 
woven  grass.  They  smear  their  bodies  with  oil 
and  the  powdered  dust  of  the  camwood- tree,  and 
in  w^ar-time  blacken  their  foreheads  and  file  their 

13 


66 


THE  LAXV  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


front  teeth  to  points,  as  a  distinguishing  mark, 
probably  another  sign  of  Totennsm,  or  a  ''throw- 
back "  to  primitive  warfare. 

The  national  Azande  weapons  are  the  lance  and 
shield,  and  among  the  Western  Azande  the  heavy 
broad-bladed  stabbing  lance,  of  which  each  warrior 
carries  one.  Among  the  Central  and  Eastern 
people  the  light-throwing  spear  is  the  usual  weapon, 
of  w^hich  each  man  carries  four,  five,  or  six.  The 
Western  folk  carry  a  small  shield  of  wicker-work 
wdth  an  iron  boss  and  spike ;  those  of  the  Centre 
and  East  carry  a  large  oval  shield  of  similar  make. 

It  is  odd  to  discover  our  national  beverage — 
beer — in  such  parts,  but  we  find  these  people 
making  beer  from  maize.  Bitter  and  thick,  but 
very  sustaining,  it  is  brewed  by  fermenting  the 
grain.  The  tribe  likes  it,  and,  in  default  of  the 
products  of  Bass,  Allsopp,  and  Pilsener,  I  am 
bound  to  say  so  did  I,  and  so  did  my  men,  another 
proof  of  the  oft-noted  cosmopolitan  character  of 
beer.  The  Arabs  have  taught  them  how  to  weave 
a  coarse,  white  cloth,  which  wears  well. 

The  Azande  generally  kill  condemned  criminals 
with  the  lance.  I  remember  once  an  Azande  chief 
caught  one  of  his  wives  attempting  to  run  away 
with  another  man.  The}^  were  both  taken  and 
brought  back,  and  next  morning,  before  an 
assembly  of  the  people  summoned  to  witness  the 
ceremony,  the}'  were  tied  to  trees.     The  chief 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


67 


himself,  after  haranguing  the  assembled  multitude, 
at  a  distance  of  fifty  yards  from  the  prisoners, 
began  to  dance,  stopping  every  now  and  then  to 
throw  a  lance  at  either  the  woman  or  the  man. 
This  he  continued  to  do,  approaching  nearer  and 
nearer,  until  both  culprits  had  been  transfixed  by 
two  or  three  lances.  A  chief  would  not  hesitate 
to  mutilate  his  own  son  for  such  an  outrage, 
inflicting  the  usual  penalty  by  cutting  off  both 
hands  at  the  wrists. 

Not  nomadic,  but  always  pushing  southward, 
and  essentially  a  warlike  race,  the  Azande  devote 
themselves  in  time  of  peace  to  hunting,  taking- 
little  trouble  about  their  dwellings  or  plantations. 
Their  huts  are  usually  circular  in  form,  and  often 
so  low  roofed  that  an  upright  position  in  them  is 
impossible.  These  are  not  grouped  together,  as  is 
customary  with  other  tribes  of  this  district,  but 
the  construction  of  their  villages  is  quite  unique. 
On  a  point  in  a  winding  path  in  the  bush  may  be 
seen  perhaps  two  or  three  huts  close  together ; 
.then,  higher  up,  and  most  probably  round  a 
corner,  or  a  bend  in  the  path,  two  or  three  more. 
Higher  up  still  will  be  found  the  headquarters  of 
the  chief,  containing  a  few  more  huts,  and  beyond 
this  still  more  are  scattered  at  irregular  intervals. 
These,  on  each  side  of  the  village,  serve  as  out- 
posts, to  prevent  a  possibility  of  surprise  by  a 
hostile   force.     In   this    matter    the  primitive 


68 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


instincts  of  defence  and  fortification  are  clearly 
indicated  and  enforced. 

The  type  of  face  seen  among  the  Azande  is  not 
that  of  the  negro  at  all.  Even  from  a  European 
point  of  view  one  may  find  men  and  women  who 
would  pass  as  very  good-looking,  for  they  are  light 


TYPE  OF  HUT. 

brown  in  colour,  with  a  clear  skin,  large  eyes,  and 
not  v(3ry  thick  lips.  The  hair,  which  is  curly  but 
not  woolly,  is  worn  long  by  the  women,  who  work 
it  into  shapes,  more  or  less  fantastic,  on  the  top  of 
the  head.  There  is  a  touch  of  civilisation  in  this 
custom.    Their  mouth  is  totally  unlike  that  of  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


69 


negro  ;  and  some  faces  differ  only  in  colour  from 
that  of  the  European  Jew.  The  race  as  a  whole 
is  well  knit,  healthy,  and  extremely  independent, 
regarding  all  other  tribes  as  its  inferiors. 

Above  all  these  people  are  extremely  clannish. 
An  Azande  is  an  Azande  wherever  he  goes,  and  no 


SECTION  OF  HUT. 


matter  where  he  may  turn  up  he  is  welcomed  by 
his  own  tribe.  His  nationality  franks  him,  as  it 
were,  and  is  a  sort  of  masonic  badge  among  his 
fellows. 

The  chiefs  of  these  people  have  much  greater 
power  than  that  usually  given  to  Central  African 


70 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


rulers,  who  are,  as  a  rule,  the  mere  figure-heads  of 
their  tribes.  An  Azande  chief  is  an  important 
person,  both  in  peace  and  in  war.  His  rule  is 
absolute,  life  and  death  are  in  his  hands,  and  he 
never  neglects  the  exercise  of  these  prerogatives. 
He  and  his  followers  are  a  shy,  suspicious  race, 
and  although  you  may  send  word  to  an  Azande 


DENDI  ^YOMAN,  HIGHER  UBANGHI. 


potentate  of  an  intended  visit,  you  will  never  find 
him  at  home.  As  you  enter  his  village  you  will 
probably  be  met  by  one  of  his  sons,  but  although 
there  will  be  more  than  enough  food  provided  for 
yourself  and  your  men,  you  will  invariably  find  the 
settlement  deserted.  When  you  ask  for  the  chief 
you  are  told  that  he  is  about  a  day's  journey  off, 
and  will  not  be  at  home  until  the  following  day. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  FIGMIES 


73 


While  you  are  waiting  for  him  his  messengers  will 
continue  to  arrive  about  once  in  every  two  hours 
to  tell  you  that  their  chief  will  be  back  to-morrow, 
though  in  reality  he  is  some  two  hundred  yards 
away  with  his  wives  in  the  women's  village  all  the 
time. 

We  have  seen  that,  as  a  rule,  the  men  do  no 
work,  all  manual  labour  being  left  to  the  women. 
The  exception  is  the  armourer  or  blacksmith, 
whose  occupation  is  hereditary,  who  is  generally 
attached  to  some  chief,  and  who  makes  arms, 
lances,  and  shields  for  the  whole  tribe.  These 
weapons,  as  a  rule,  do  not  belong  to  those  who 
carry  them,  but  are  given  out  for  the  time  by  the 
chief  whose  property  they  are. 

The  warriors  possess  considerable  knowledge  of 
military  tactics,  and  when  fighting  charge  either 
in  column  or  in  crescent  form,  as  do  the  Zulus. 
Their  courage  and  pluck  are  admirable  ;  their  con- 
tempt for  death  is  supreme.  They  will  stand  a 
fire  that  is  dropping  them  by  dozens,  charging 
time  after  time  until  absolutely  compelled  to  retire. 
Coming  upon  seven  or  eight  men  armed  with  rifles, 
they  will  throw  away  their  own  arms  and  rush 
their  opponents,  though  they  may  lose  twenty  or 
thirty  men  in  the  attempt,  knowing  that  ultimately 
the  rifles  will  be  theirs. 

A  fixed  method  of  trial  among  the  Azande  is  the 
ordeal  by  poison.    The  accused,  brought  before  the 

14 


74 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


chief,  is  made  to  drink  a  cup  of  poison,  a  con- 
coction the  ingredients  of  which  are  kept  secret, 
and  he  is  considered  not  guilty  if  the  poison  fails 
to  kill  him,  but  it  has  nearly  always  a  fatal  effect. 
The  man  receives  and  drinks  the  poison  ;  he  stands 
still  for  a  minute  in  silence,  all  watching  him. 
Then  his  hands  begin  to  quiver,  not  from  fear,  but 
by  reason  of  the  poison's  action,  which  contracts 


NATIVE   OF  THE  EQUATOR. 


the  muscles,  and  presently  he  becomes  quite  rigid 
and  falls  down  dead  without  a  sound.  We  may 
reasonably  assume  that  a  chief  would  not  sanction 
so  risky  an  ordeal  except  on  those  whom  he 
intended  to  despatch. 

Another  interesting  custom  of  this  tribe  is  their 
method  of  forecasting  events,  known  as  the  invoca- 
tion of  BeMge.    Their  faith  in  this  peculiar  system 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  75 

of  augury  is  implicit,  and  shows  a  belief  in  some 
supreme  being.  They  consult  it  on  every  occasion 
of  doubt ;  "  Beficje  cannot  lie — I  will  consult 
Benge^''  they  say.  Their  mode  of  consulting  this 
oracle  is  as  follows  :  the  chief,  perhaps,  desires  to 
know  if  a  certain  road  is  safe  for  him  to  travel  by 
on  the  morrow.  Accordingly  he  selects  two  young- 
fowls,  and  as  "  Benge  "  can  only  be  invoked  in 
quietude,  he  repairs  with  two  assistants  into  the 
bush,  where  a  small  clearing  is  made.  Here  they 
sit  down  ;  the  assistants,  opposite  to  one  another, 
hold  the  fowls  by  the  legs,  and  draw  down  the 
pinion  feathers  into  the  hand,  so  that  the  bird  is 
unable  to  struggle.  By  means  of  a  feather  an 
equal  quantity  of  the  poison,  a  red  composition, 
made  by  mixing  water  with  the  scraped  bark  of  a 
certain  root  (Str/jcJinos  ichaja),  is  put  into  each 
chicken's  throat.  Then  the  man  who  is  invoking 
the  oracle  makes  an  incantation  somewhat  to  the 
following  effect:  "  Beiige,  tell  me,  tell  me  true! 
If  this  one  die  and  this  one  live  the  road  is  safe." 
Then  he  talks  to  the  fowls.  "You  die,  and  you 
live,"  he  says.  If  the  result  is  contrary  to  his 
desire  he  postpones  his  project  or  takes  another 
path.  The  Azande  have  no  other  creed  or  religion, 
but  in  Benge  they  have  absolute  and  unshaken 
faith. 

Such  is  the  Azande  in  his  native  state.  Brave, 
intrepid,  and  unflinching,  yet  shy  and  suspicious, 


76 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


with  a  faith  in  augury  almost  amounting  to 
fatalism,  his  qualities  are  of  a  higher  order  than 
those  of  the  surrounding  tribes,  whom,  in  the 
natural  order  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  he  was 
absorbing  on  his  way  southward  when  checked  by 
the  advent  of  the  civilising  white  man. 


DRUMS  FROM  THE  EQUATOR. 


CHAPTER  lY 


The  Mang-bettou  tribe — The  conqueror  and  vanquished— 
Modern  Mang-bettous — Villages — Good  husbandmen — 
Skilful  craftsmen —  Aristocracy — Chieftain — Cannibals — 
The  war-drum — The  mapingo — The  women — Giving  paint 
— No  divorce — Arms — Tobacco  and  pipes — Smoking  cus- 
toms— The  beer — Drinking  customs  of  the  Mang-bettou — 
Harvest — Mang-bettou  "gold  cure" — No  knowledge  of 
tactics — Huts — Intermarriage — Head-dress  of  the  men — 
The  chief's  "ball"  —  Their  religious  superstitions  — 
Spiritualists  —  Funeral  customs — The  attaro  —  Funeral 
customs  of  the  chiefs — Morality  non-existent — Nick- 
names— Mourning. 


EXT  in  importance  to  the  Azande  conies  the 
Mang-bettou,  or  what  at  present  passes  as  the 
Mang-bettou  tribe .  Some  fifteen  years  ago  the 
original  Mang-bettou  were  masters  of  the  district 
south  of  the  Welle ;  but  between  the  treachery  of 
the  Egyptian  officers  of  Emin's  troops  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  attacks  of  the  Azande  on  the  other, 
coupled  w^th  the  pressure  of  the  xlbangba  tribe  in 
the  north-west,  and  of  the  Niapu  from  the  south, 

77 


78 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


these  Mang-bettou  were  dispersed,  and  their  rem- 
nant was  merged  in  other  tribes.  But  their 
customs,  their  language,  their  fashions,  and  their 
arts  remain  among  the  present  race  of  Mang- 
bettou,  the  conquerors  thus  assuming  the  habits 
and  tongue  of  the  vanquished,  much  as  "  captive 
Greece  made  captive  her  rude  conqueror." 


MANG-BETTOU  NAIIVE. 


The  villages  of  the  Mang-bettou  are  in  every 
respect  superior  to  those  of  the  Azande,  except 
from  a  tactical  standpoint.  In  form  they  are 
sometimes  rectangular,  sometimes  circular,  occa- 
sionally some  two  hundred  yards  across  ;  hut  is 
built  next  to  hut  at  fairly  regular  intervals,  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


79 


centre  being  kept  quite  clear,  and  swept  twice  a 
day  by  the  women. 

In  these  villages  women  live  as  well  as  men, 
and,  unlike  the  Azande,  are  visible  to  strangers  ; 
indeed,  when  a  white  man  visits  the  chief,  all  the 
wives  will  come  to  look  at  him  without  any  pro- 
test on  the  part  of  their  lord  and  master.  These 
Mang-bettou  women  are  very  good  cultivators  of 


r" 


THKOWING-KNIVES. 


the  extensive  plantations  that  usually  surround  a 
native  village.  In  working  ivory  and  iron  they  are 
very  skilful,  the  latter  being  wrought  entirely  with 
the  hammer.  They  also  make  a  curious  kind  of 
cloth,  for  which  the  bark  of  a  certain  fig-tree  is 
beaten  out  with  ivory  mallets  on  a  smooth  wooden 
block  ;  it  is  then  buried  in  mud  on  the  bank  of 
a  stream,  and  when  taken  up  again  and  cleansed 


80 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


is  ready  for  use.  The  Mang-bettou  wear  it  be- 
tween the  legs,  and  fastened  round  the  waist  with 
a  rope  of  grass  or  a  belt  of  antelope  or  zebra  hide. 
When  the  cloth  is  new  it  is  so  stiff  as  to  make 
walking  difficult,  but  after  a  little  use  it  becomes 
soft  and  pliable. 

Unlike  other  races  of  the  Welle,  the  Mang-bettou 
have  an  aristocracy — freed  men  who  do  not  engage 
in  manual  labour  of  any  kind.  Not  that  those 
below  them  are  slaves ;  they  are  equally  free,  but 
have  not  the  same  hereditary  rank  as  the  so-called 
freemen,  who  are  usually  relations  of  the  chief, 
or  connected  in  some  way  with  him.  If  you  want 
porters,  and  apply  to  a  chief  for  them,  he  may 
have  sixty  or  seventy  men  around  him  not  one 
of  whom  he  can  lend.  They  do  not  work,"  he 
says,  implying  that  as  free-born  they  would  not 
thus  demean  themselves. 

The  office  of  chieftain  is  not  always  hereditary. 
Generally,  it  is  true,  the  eldest  son  follows  his 
father,  or  the  chief  may  have  named  as  his  suc- 
cessor one  of  his  sons  renowned  among  the  tribe 
as  a  big  fighting-man.  But  this  by  no  means 
ensures  his  acceptance  by  the  rest,  who  meet  in 
council,  and  whose  decision  is  final.  This  race 
is  far  more  under  the  rule  of  the  white  man  than 
the  Azande,  and  lacks  their  independence  aiid 
courage,  though  it  excels  in  hospitality. 

An    exceedingly    abstemious    community  in 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


83 


general,  occasionally  their  big  chiefs  give  way 
to  drink ;  and,  although  the  presence  of  the  white 
man  has  tended  to  check  the  practice  among  them, 
they  are  still  cannibals,  and  will  eat  human  flesh 
if  they  can  get  it  without  his  knowledge.  If  we 
could  only  check  intemperance  as  easily  as  we  do 
cannibalism  we  might  raise  these  brave  fellows  to 
a  higher  level.  Like  the  Azande,  they  have  no 
distinguishiiig  tattoo  mark. 

The  Mang-bettou  are  "not  a  musical  race,  their 
only  instruments  being  the  big  war-drum  and 
the  tusk  trumpet.  The  war-drum  answers  the 
purpose  of  a  national  telegraph,  and  one  of  these 
instruments  may  be  found  in  almost  every  village. 
It  consists  of  a  piece  of  wood  about  four  feet  long, 
cut  from  the  stem  of  a  tree,  and  hollowed  out  from 
a  long  narrow  hole  in  the  top.  It  stands  on  four 
legs,  and  has  usually  a  figure-head  of  some  animal 
carved  in  wood.  Beaten  with  short  sticks  on  each 
side  of  the  opening,  it  gives  out  a  resounding  noise 
that  will  carry  for  miles.  This  drumming  is  taken 
up  from  village  to  village.  Various  codes  of  signals 
are  understood,  and  are  thus  the  means  of  trans- 
mitting messages,  both  for  purposes  of  peace  and 
for  alarm  of  war. 

Their  trumpets  are  made  of  ivory,  and  are  very 
difficult  to  blow,  being  simply  tusks  with  a  hole  at 
the  thin  end.  These  are  used  for  signalling  in 
battle,  to  indicate  positions,  to  notify  danger  in 


84 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


certain  quarters,  or  to  sound  a  retreat.  They  fight 
by  ambuscade,  have  no  knowledge  of  tactics  such 
as  are  used  by  the  Azande,  and  never  venture  to 
charge  their  enemies  at  all. 

Their  method  of  forecasting  the  future  is  dis- 
tinctive ;  it  is  performed  by  a  professional,  and  is 
known  as  the  mapingo.  A  banana  is  peeled  and 
balanced  horizontally  on  two  upright  pegs,  not  an 
easy  feat  considering  the  smoothness  of  its  peeled 
stem.  On  this  are  placed  thirty-nine  heaps  of 
short  sticks,  beautifully  polished  and  oiled,  each 
heap  being  composed  of  one  stick  resting  upon 
two.  The  seer  begins  to  walk  round  these,  talking 
to  them  and  clapping  his  hands,  until  one  of  them 
slips  away ;  and  it  is  on  the  movement  of  these 
little  sticks  that  he  will  rely  for  an  omen. 

The  clothing  of  a  woman  consists  of  a  little 
square  of  cloth  about  two  feet  by  eighteen  inches, 
worn  as  an  apron,  and  a  tail  made  of  cocoanut 
fibres.  She  carries  a  little  stool  wherever  she 
goes,  and  generally  enters  a  hut  backwards.  She 
wears  both  anklets  and  armlets,  made  of  iron, 
brass,  copper,  or  beads.  Her  hair  is  plaited  into 
a  sort  of  crown  or  halo,  and  it  is  a  good  morning's 
work  to  build  up  this  structure  in  all  its  glory. 

The  great  ladies  wear  the  nails  of  the  last  three 
fingers  of  the  left  hand  very  long,  to  show  that 
they  do  no  manual  labour — a  custom  which, 
curiously  enough,  is  found  at  the  present  day 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


85 


in  South-western  Europe  and  in  China,  due  to 
a  similar  motive. 

The  whole  of  their  body  is  usually  covered  with 
designs  when  they  are  in  full  dress.  These  are 
painted  on  with  lampblack  and  gardenia  juice  in 
rings,  hoops,  spots,  circles,  and  other  patterns, 
according  to  taste  and  fashion.    The  paint  lasts 


A  DANCING-WOMAN. 


for  three  or  four  days,  when  they  vary  the 
design. 

It  is  almost  a  crime  for  a  woman  who  is  married 
to  give  paint  to  a  man.  To  give  a  man  colour 
implies  undue  familiarity,  and  is  certain  to  bring 
down  the  wrath  of  an  offended  husband  upon  the 
imprudent  pair. 


86 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Morality  amongst  these  women  is  at  a  very  low 
ebb.  The  Mang-bettou  families,  except  those  of 
the  chiefs,  are  not  usually  large.  The  death-rate 
among  children  is  very  high,  as  they  are  left  to 
look  after  themselves  at  about  two  or  three  years 
of  age. 

These  women  are  not  good-looking  as  a  rule,  but 
are  well  built  and  strong ;  and,  as  they  do  all 
manual  labour,  as  well  as  the  house  duties,  a  man 
buys  his  wife  more  for  her  physical  strength  than 
for  her  looks.  Bought  for  hoes,  spearheads,  knives, 
and  pieces  of  unwrought  iron,  they  become  the 
absolute  property  of  their  husbands  and  can  be 
'sold  or  given  away  at  will. 

There  is  no  divorce  among  the  Mang-bettou. 
A  man  simply  takes  another  wife  when  he  is  tired 
of  the  first.  They  all  live  together  and  do  not 
quarrel,  the  former  wife  being  generally  consoled 
by  the  fact  that  her  eldest  son,  if  she  has  one,  will 
take  precedence  of  her  rival's  children.  The 
daughters  of  big  chiefs  can  only  marry  chiefs ;  while 
unmarried  they  remain  in  the  village  and  do  just 
as  they  please  until  some  suitor  of  the  required 
rank  turns  up. 

The  arms  of  the  Mang-bettou  are  the  lance,  or 

thro  wing-spear,"  and  a  shield  four  feet  high  and 
twenty-five  inches  across,  made  out  of  one  solid 
piece  of  uncaria-wood,  slightly  curved,  and  with 
square  corners.    The  strip  along  the  top  is  orna- 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


87 


mented  with  wicker  squares,  alternately  plain 
black,  and  white  with  black  designs.  This  shield 
is  held  by  a  small  grip,  and  in  this  is  fastened  a 
loop  of  fibrous  tape  into  which  spare  spears  are 
slung.  In  fighting  the  warrior  is  able  to  cover 
himself  completely  behind  his  shield.    The  tape 


WAR  MASKS  AND  THROWIXG-SPEAES. 


forming  the  loop  is  made  in  endless  rings  worked 
on  a  circle  of  sticks. 

The  Mang-bettou  do  not  file  their  teeth.  This 
custom,  so  common  in  many  savage  tribes, 
obviously  arose  from  a  desire  to  produce  fanged  or 


88 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


canine  teeth,  such  as  those  of  the  wolf  or  fox,  with 
which,  when  all  weapons  had  been  exhausted  or 
none  were  at  hand,  they  literally  sprang  at  each 
other's  throats,  fighting  "  tooth  and  nail."  With 
the  introduction  of  iron-tipped  weapons  this 
primitive  practice  died  out.  In  some  tribes,  as  we 
have  seen,  it  survives  as  a  form  of  decoration  or 
distinction. 

There  is  a  plantation  of  tobacco  near  every 
village,  though  the  natives  have  no  ideas  of  pre- 
paring it.  They  simply  take  out  the  centre  stalk 
of  the  tobacco  leaf,  which  is  shredded  and  dried  in 
the  sun  ;  this  is  sometimes  mixed  with  red  pepper, 
and  is  moulded  by  the  aid  of  oil  into  the  shape, 
and  nearly  to  the  hardness,  of  a  brick.  Their 
pipes  are  generally  the  centre  fibres  of  banana 
leaves,  through  which  they  bore  holes  at  the  larger 
ends,  into  which  they  fit  leaves  curled  up  to  take 
the  place  of  bowls. 

In  smoking  they  only  take  two  or  three  whiffs 
of  the  pipe,  inhaling  the  smoke,  and  coughing 
violently  always.  When  the  chief  sneezes  it  is 
customary  for  all  those  around  him  to  pretend  to 
sneeze  also,  just  as  we  may  say  "  God  bless  you !  " 
or  an  Italian  ^'  Yiva  !  "  When  a  chief  smokes 
the  whole  crowd  standing  round  him  clap  their 
hands  in  unison  until  he  has  finished. 

The  chiefs  and  their  intimate  friends  are  the 
only  people  who  really  drink  in  the  country.  They 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


91 


enjoy  large  bowls  of  beer,  made  from  maroo,  light 
brown  in  colour,  and  not  mipleasant  to  the  taste. 
The  first  sensation  to  the  palate  is  one  of  sweet- 
ness, the  after-taste  rather  bitter.  This  beverage 
can  only  be  used  when  new,  as  in  two  or  three  days 
it  becomes  acid  and  undrinkable.  Women  always 
brew  it,  and  pride  themseh^es  on  the  accomplish- 
ment. When  a  chief  drinks  strict  ceremonial  is 
observed,  each  having  his  own  custom.  One  will 
have  a  drum  beaten  from  the  time  he  raises  the 
bowl  to  his  lips  until  he  puts  it  down  again ; 
another  will  have  a  man  behind  him  whose  business 
it  is  to  attract  people's  attention  w^hile  his  master 
drinks  by  uttering  some  cry,  or  noise,  or  shout ; 
another  will  have  bells  rung  ;  another  used  to  have 
a  forked  stick  placed  on  the  back  of  his  neck  while 
he  swallowed  the  beer.  When  a  man  makes  up 
his  mind  for  a  first-class  bout  the  racket  is  con- 
tinuous and  distracting  while  he  is  "  making  a 
night  of  it." 

The  women  as  a  rule  do  not  drink  except  at  the 
maroo  harvest  festivals,  when  there  is  always  a 
great  function,  and  other  head-men  and  relations 
are  asked  from  the  whole  district  round,  with  whom 
they  drink  and  dance,  and  dance  and  drink,  for 
forty-eight  hours  on  end. 

All  the  Mang-bettou  chiefs,  and  people  of  the 
better  class,  carry  a  piece  of  kola  nut,  which  they 
chew  when  they  are  beginning  to  feel  tipsy,  and 


92 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


which  they  declare  has  the  power  of  making  them 
sober.  This  "kola  cocktail "  is  their  equivalent 
for  the  American  "gold  cm^e.'* 

Freemen  are  armed  with  lance  and  shield,  the 
lower  classes  with  bow  and  arrow.  They  paint 
their  faces  in  war-time  white  and  black,  a  white 
line  across  the  black  face,  drawn  diagonally,  or 
adopt  some  other  pattern,  such  as  a  white  eye — 
prototype  of  the  White-eyed  Kaffir  of  our  music- 
halls — and  cover  their  heads  with  grass  and  creepers. 
Altogether  they  make  a  terrific  noise,  but  are  not 
dangerous. 

Their  arrows,  which  they  do  not  poison,  are 
heavier  and  bigger  than  those  of  other  tribes,  but 
they  are  not  good  marksmen.  They  are  not  a  fight- 
ing tribe  ;  when  a  chief  calls  on  his  men  to  go  with 
him  to  war  they  are  all  supposed  to  go  under  dread 
of  severe  punishment,  but  they  cannot  for  a  moment 
withstand  the  plucky  onset  of  the  Azande. 

Their  huts,  rectangular  or  circular,  are  far 
superior  to  those  of  any  other  tribes  in  the  Welle 
district  as  regards  their  size,  height,  and  cleanli- 
ness. The  round  ones  have  walls  of  clay  mixed 
with  chopped  grass,  and  conical  roofs  of  grass- 
thatch.  The  rectangular  are  framed  of  sticks  of 
the  rafia  palm,  which  is  smoother  than  the  bamboo, 
and  has  no  knots,  interwoven  with  the  bark  of  trees. 
The  thatched  roof  of  these  is  covered  with  an 
enormous  mat,  tied  down  at  the  four  corners,  and 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


95 


made  of  plaited  cane.  These  houses  are  very  neat, 
and  as  they  have  no  chimneys,  the  smoke  finds  its 
way  out  through  the  roof.  Their  doors  are  only 
about  three  feet  six  to  four  feet  in  height,  but  this 
is  higher  than  is  usual  with  the  neighbouring 
tribes.  The  entrance  is  closed  by  a  sliding  panel, 
made,  as  a  rule,  of  one  piece  of  wood.  These  huts 
are  rain-proof,  and  the  walls  are  decorated  with  geo- 
metrical patterns  drawn  in  black,  white,  or  red,  the 
only  three  pigments  for  which  they  have  names  in 
their  vocabulary. 

The  head-dress  of  the  men  is  distinctive  and 
curious.  String  is  wound  round  the  forehead 
behind  the  ears,  and  the  hair  is  drawn  back  and 
tied  into  a  sort  of  chignon  on  the  top  of  the  head. 
On  this  is  fixed  a  round  hat  with  square  top,  kept 
in  position  by  an  ivory  hat-pin,  and  made  of  plaited 
grass  woven  into  patterns.  Chiefs  and  high  people 
decorate  their  head-dress  still  further  by  the 
addition  of  bunches  of  red  feathers  from  the  tail 
of  the  grey  parrot. 

When  the  children  of  chiefs  are  young  string  is 
wound  round  their  heads,  which  are  gradually 
compressed  into  a  shape  that  will  allow  of  the 
longest  head-dress.  The  skull  thus  treated  in 
childhood  takes  the  appearance  of  an  elongated  egg. 

The  Mang-bettou  delight  to  exhibit  their  skill  as 
dancers  in  honour  of  their  guests.  Invariably  on 
your  arrival  at  the  village  of  a  Mang-bettou  chief 


96 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


he  will  begin  to  make  preparations  for  a  big  dance 
in  the  evening  or  the  afternoon.  In  our  language 
he  "gives  a  ball,"  at  which  he  is  the  sole 
performer. 

Drums  are  beaten  to  warn  the  natives  of  the 
chief's  household  that  he  intends  to  dance,  and  at 
the  appointed  hour  most  of  his  wives  assemble  in 
a  large  open  space  set  apart  for  this  purpose,  the 
head  wife  seated  in  the  centre,  and  the  others  in 
order  of  precedence  to  right  and  left,  thus  forming 
an  enormous  semicircle.  Each  woman  brings 
with  her  a  round  stool,  about  a  foot  high,  cut  out 
of  a  solid  piece  of  wood,  and  on  these  they  sit  with 
their  knees  together  and  toes  turned  in.  The 
orchestra  is  placed  behind  the  head  wife,  in  the 
centre  of  the  semicircle,  and  is  composed  of  drums, 
horns,  and  native  bells,  which  are  tied  together  on 
a  stick  and  shaken  till  they  sound  "like  sweet 
bells  jangled  out  of  tune." 

The  chief  in  the  meantime  has  been  putting  on 
the  ornaments  and  insignia  due  to  the  solemnity 
of  the  occasion,  and  during  the  wait  a  few 
picked  warriors  give  a  performance  illustrating  a 
fight. 

The  chief  arrives.  He  has  put  on,  besides  his 
usual  dress,  a  number  of  small  skins  attached  to 
his  belt  in  front  and  behind — not  in  a  row,  but 
three  or  four  in  a  heap  on  top  of  one  another,  with 
the  tails  hanging  loose.    Similar  skins  adorn  his 


NATIVE  AXES. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


99 


arms,  and  a  large  giraffe's  tail  is  fixed  behind,  with 
bunches  of  parrots'  red  tail-feathers  at  its  end. 
He  wears  an  enormous  head-dress,  and  round  his 
ankles  are  rings  with  bells  attached.  As  soon  as 
he  steps  into  the  circle  a  great  shout  is  raised  by 
the  women  present.  He  selects  his  dance,  and  as 
the  orchestra  strikes  up  he  prances  round  and 
about  this  large  circle,  now  stooping  on  one  side, 
now  upon  the  other,  until  he  is  out  of  breath. 


invariably  ending  opposite  to  his  head  wife,  whom 
he  salutes  at  the  finish.  He  then  refreshes  him- 
self by  big  draughts  of  beer,  while  fanned  by  two 
young  women.  When  rested  he  begins  a  new 
dance,  and  very  often  between  the  figures  he 
will  make  a  speech.  If  he  is  tired  his  place  is 
taken  by  one  of  his  sons,  and  so  the  proceedings 
often  last  for  five  or  six  hours.  The  Mang-bettou 
women  during  the  dances  sway  their  heads  and 


TYPES  OF  CHIEFS. 


100 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


wave  their  hands  in  perfect  time,  the  chief  wife 
leading  them.  They  do  not  dance  with  the  men, 
hut  have  a  dance  of  their  own  to  close  the 
ball. 

The  Mang-bettou  believe  vaguely  in  a  supreme 
being,  but  they  have  no  name  for  him.  Their 
nearest  name  is  Kilima.  The  thunder  is  Kilima 
speaking  when  he  is  angry.  Thunderbolts  are  the 
stones  he  throws  down.  By  a  charming  poetical 
fiction  the  rainbow  is  the  actual  embodiment  of 
Kilima.  If  you  ask  them  to  describe  him,  they 
will  tell  you  he  is  "a  large  animal  with  a  curved 
red  back."  A  shadow  is  Kilima  ;  the  reflection  in 
water  is  Kilima ;  anything  they  do  nob  understand 
is  Kilima.  Some  of  the  tribes  I  met  have  neither 
religion  nor  superstition,  nor  do  they  practise  any 
occult  or  fetich  rites.  Others,  such  as  those  now 
described,  have  a  vivid  belief  in  the  unseen  world, 
in  a  god,  and  in  spirits  of  the  departed,  and  so 
are  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilisation  than  their 
more  agnostic  neighbours. 

If  any  head  of  a  family  dies  he  is  buried  in  the 
centre  of  his  hut,  in  a  hole  about  six  feet  deep,  in 
a  sitting  position,  and  is  covered  over  with  layers 
of  earth  and  sticks,  till  the  hole  is  filled  right  up, 
and  the  floor  is  beaten  down  again,  so  that  it  shows 
no  sign  of  disturbance. 

Outside  the  door  they  will  build  a  little  attaro, 
or  hut.    This  is  made  with  three  sticks,  painted 


ABARAMBO  WOMAN  AND  MAN. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


103 


black  and  white,  with  a  conical  thatch  of  grass. 
A  similar  hut  is  built  right  away  in  the  bush. 
After  the  man  is  buried  cooked  food  and  oil  are 
left  at  the  attar o  in  the  forest,  so  that  the  spirit  of 
this  dead  man  shall  not  return  to  his  house,  but 
shall  find  food  at  his  other  attaro  should  he  want 
it.  This  custom  is  frequently  found  among  North 
American  .Indians,  and  was  also  an  Egyptian 
practice. 

In  proof  that  these  people  believe  that  the 
spirits  of  dead  folk  will  return  to  their  old 
habitations,  and  can  communicate  with  the  living, 
the  following  incident  came  under  my  personal 
notice  : — 

One  evening  I  heard  a  tremendous  noise  outside 
my  door.  Eunning  out  to  see  what  it  was  all 
about,  I  found  a  native  woman  in  hysterics.  She 
was  lying  on  the  ground,  two  women  kneeling  on 
each  side  of  her,  holding  her  down  with  grass 
mats,  with  the  apparent  intention  of  smothering 
the  poor  soul.  I  asked  what  they  were  doing. 
They  told  me  that  the  spirit  of  her  father  had 
come  back  to  call  her,  and  that  she  must  go  to 
him.  They  really  believed  this,  and  were  very 
much  disgusted  when  I  threw  a  bucket  of  cold 
water  over  her.  In  ten  minutes  she  was  asleep, 
and  next  morning  was  perfectly  well. 

They  believe,  too,  in  a  god  whom  they  call 
Ara,  a  name   derived  from  Allah   through  the 


104 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Arabs.  They  say  he  will  punish  them  for  doing 
wrong.  "Will  he  punish  them  for  murder?"  I 
once  asked.  "  Oh  no  ;  it  is  Ara  who  makes  a 
man  murder."  Then  how  and  for  what  will  he 
punish  man?"  "He  will  punish  a  man  for 
neglecting  to  make  provision  for  himself  and  his 
family."  "How?"  "By  making  him  suffer 
hunger."  So  it  seemed  that  their  god  was  simply 
Nature,  and  no  more  definite  explanation  could 
I  get. 

When  a  big  chief  dies  a  new  hut  is  built  away  in 
the  bush  on  the  banks  of  a  stream.  A  hole  is  dug 
in  the  centre,  as  described  previously,  into  which 
he  is  placed,  always  in  a  sitting  posture,  and 
covered  over  with  sticks  and  earth.  Five  women, 
selected  from  amongst  his  widows,  are  first 
strangled  outside  the  .hut,  and  then  their  dead 
bodies  are  laid  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  with 
the  feet  towards  the  central  tomb.  Then  they  all 
are  covered  over  with  several  layers  of  bark  cloth, 
on  top  of  which  are  poured  large  chauldrons  of 
palm  oil.  Another  layer  of  cloth  is  added,  and 
more  oil  poured  over  it,  until  the  whole  structure 
is  about  two  feet  high.  After  this  it  is  absolute 
death  for  any  native,  except  the  ruling  chief  and 
one  other  man  selected  for  the  purpose,  generally  a 
brother,  to  be  found  even  upon  the  road  to  the 
hut,  which  every  week  is  visited  by  one  of  these 
two  men. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  107 

When  the  cloth  and  oil  have  rotted  away  new 
layers  are  spread  there,  till  all  signs  except  the 
bones  are  gone.  The  hut  itself  is  never  repaired, 
but  is  allowed  to  decay  and  fall  to  pieces  until  it 
eventually  disappears. 

The  succeeding  chief  is  very  careful  to  supply 
every  possible  want  of  his  predecessor.  If  he 
dreams  during  the  night  that  the  spirit  of  the 
departed  has  come  to  him  and  has  told  him  to  do 
this  or  that,  a  new  chief  will  follow  the  advice 
thus  given.  If  beer  is  wanted  he  will  have  two 
or  three  jars  brewed  next  morning,  which  he  takes 
himself  to  the  tomb  and  breaks  them  there  in 
front  of  the  hut  door.  It  is  a  favourite  trick  of  a 
new  chief  to  bid  for  popularity  by  working  upon 
the  people's  feelings  in  this  way,  pretending  to 
have  been  visited  by  the  late  chief,  who  has  warned 
him  that  unless  his  followers  behave  better  trouble 
will  surely  ensue. 

Burials  usually  take  place  at  night.  On  the 
death  of  a  great  chief  everything  belonging  to 
him  except  the  cloth,  which  is  too  valuable,  is 
broken  into  small  pieces  and  thrown  away. 

Being  unable  to  pronounce  the  name  of  a  white 
man,  these  folk  have  recourse  to  nicknames,  which 
they  derive  from  any  personal  peculiarity  they  may 
perceive,  and  at  noticing  which  they  are  very  keen. 
Once  named,  a  man  will  go  by  his  nickname  among 
the  people,  his  white  name  being  disregarded. 


108 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Even  other  whites  are  bound  to  mention  him 
solely  by  this.  One  was  called  a  locust ;  another 
the  bad-tempered  man ;  another  was  the  strong 
man,  not  because  he  was  physically  strong,  but 
because  he  was  firm,  severe,  and  hard;  another 
was  called  the  "  White  Liar,"  from  his  habit  of  not 
fulfilling  promises  made  to  the  natives  ;  a  great 
hunter  was  the  ten -animals -man,  another  the 
mongoose.  A  man  with  a  beard  is  the  hairy  man, 
and  a  short  man  is  "  Tikitik,"  the  native  word  for 
dwarf. 

The  women,  when  they  go  into  mourning,  take 
off  all  their  trinkets,  bangles,  armlets,  and  neck- 
laces, and  cut  their  long  nails.  They  take  their 
hair  out  of  the  shape  of  a  crown,  a  task  of  half  a 
day,  and  wear  it  simply  unconfined,  replacing 
their  ornaments  with  bangles  of  wickerwork,  and 
staining  the  upper  part  of  their  faces  black, 
but  they  make  no  difference  in  their  mode  of 
living. 

A  widow,  being  a  chattel  of  the  late  chief, 
becomes  the  property  of  his  successor.  The  head 
wife  retains  much  of  her  former  authority,  but 
remains  with  the  other  wives,  and  generally  has  a 
voice  in  the  government.  She  does  not  paint  her 
body  at  all  during  the  time  of  mourning,  as  is 
customary  with  the  great  Mang-bettou  ladies  at 
other  times. 

The  men  for  mourning  blacken  the  whole  of 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


109 


their  faces  with  soot,  mixed  with  the  juice  of  the 
gardenia,  a  stain  which  lasts  three  or  four  days, 
but  make  no  difference  in  their  usual  orna- 
ments. 


WAR  DRUM. 


CHAPTEE  V 


I  visit  the  Mabod^  country — Eeturn  to  Pokko — Attacked  by 
fever — The  Mege  —  Their  country  and  customs  —  The 
Niapu — A  buffer  state — No  interest  taken  in  the  white 
man — The  mule  a  fabulous  animal — The  "  lucundoo  " — 
Poison  resorted  to — The  methods  of  working  witchcraft — 
Cleanliness  of  the  Mege — I  interview  a  tribe  previously 
unvisited  by  the  white  man — Good  reception  spoilt  by  an 
accident — I  take  the  initiative — Kout  of  the  Mabode — I 
turn  off  eastward — Fresh  attacks  by  the  Mabode — Cross 
the  Nava — Attack  and  capture  of  the  zareba — Nineteen 
men  of  my  party  are  wounded — Eelief  by  Lieutenant 
Laplume — The  Mabode  villages — Cannibalism  rampant 
among  them — The  undergi^ound  rivers  —  Dances — The 
Momvus  tribe — Their  customs — Equality  of  the  sexes — 
Eeturn  to  N'Yangara. 

IN  March,  1895,  I  re-established  an  old  post  m 
the  Mabode  country,  ruled  by  the  Mang-bettou 
chief  M 'Bella,  which  had  been  abandoned  by 
the  State,  two  days'  march  north  of  the  Nepoko. 
It  was  then  I  took  the  opportunity  of  pushing- 
south  to  the  banks  of  the  Nepoko,  the  extreme 
point  in  that  direction  reached  by  Junker  in  his 
many  wanderings  in  the  region  of  the  Welle. 

110 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


118 


Returning  from  the  Xepoko  to  my  headquarters 
at  N'Yangara,  after  a  short  stay  I  went  do\Yn 
the  river  to  visit  the  posts  of  Suruanga,  Amadis, 
and  Pokko,  a  very  paradise  for  the  naturalist, 
situated  just  below  the  confluence  of  the  Pokko 
and  the  Bomokandi  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Madjema, 
and  a  grand  field  for  elephant-shooting. 

Here  on  the  1st  of  July  I  was  laid  up  with  my 
first  attack  of  bilious  hematuric  fever.  In  spite  of 
the  absence  of  a  medical  man,  with  the  aid  of 
Lieutenant  Boone,  commandant  of  the  post,  I 
managed  to  pull  through,  but  owing  to  consequent 
weakness  I  was  unable  to  leave  till  the  beginning 
of  A^ugust,  when  I  returned  to  N'Yangara. 

South  of  the  BOmokandi  dwell  the  Mege,  a 
race  closely  allied  to  the  Maigo,  who  dwell  further 
south.  They  resemble  in  many  points  their 
neighbours  the  Mang-bettou,  and,  like  other 
tribes,  they  have  adopted  the  language  and 
customs  of  their  conquerors.  They  are  skilled 
hunters,  and,  living  as  they  do  in  a  woodland 
country,  use  neither  lance  nor  shield,  confining 
themselves  entirely  to  the  use  of  the  bow  and 
arrow,  with  which  they  are  extremely  expert. 

Their  country  is  rich  in  foods  of  all  kinds.  The 
villages  consist  of  loosely  connected  groups  of 
huts,  well  concealed  in  the  thick  undergrowth. 
From  time  immemorial  they  have  been  at  feud 
with  their  x\zande  neighbours;  but  this  warfare, 

19 


114 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


since  the  arrival  of  the  white  man  on  the  scene, 
has  been  hmited  to  small  frontier  raids  and 
skirmishes,  with  the  result  that  a  broad  belt 
of  neutral  ground  has  been  created  between  the 
territories  of  the  two  tribes. 

Knowing  the  natural  fertility  of  the  land,  a  small 
group  of  Niapu  or  Amadis  promptly  turned  the 
mutual  hostility  of  these  two  tribes  to  advantage  by 
taking  possession  of  the  disputed  strip.  Here  they 
have  settled  down,  refusing  allegiance  to  either 


DISH   FROM   THE  EQUATOR. 

Azande  or  Mege,  and  thus  creating  an  almost 
model  buffer  state.  Wild  and  lawless,  this 
small  band  has  become  a  power  in  itself,  repulsing 
the  encroachments  of  their  neighbours,  and  some- 
times more  than  holding  their  own  against  them. 

It  was  while  passing  through  these  villages,  on 
my  return  from  the  Mabode  country,  that  I  first 
came  across  a  people  in  whom  the  presence  of  a 
white  man  aroused  no  feelings  of  curiosity.  I  was 
riding  a  mule,  and  these  people  had  never  seen  a 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  115 

beast  of  the  equine  species,  although  they  had 
heard  that  this  (to  them)  fabulous  animal  existed 
in  the  white  man's  quarters,  and  that  it  was  used 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  him  from  one  place 
to  another.  The  villages  were  deserted  for  the 
moment  as  I  passed  through  with  my  people, 
but  I  heard  afterwards  that  immediately  after 
we  had  gone  by  the  Niapu  crowded  back,  and 
were  busily  occupied  in  examining  the  ground. 
My  informant,  a  small  Mang-bettou  chief  who 
had  accompanied  me  on  the  journey,  was  a  little 
in  the  rear,  and  came  suddenly  upon  the  villagers 
whilst  they  were  thus  employed. 

Wondering  what  might  be  their  object  in  thus 
scrutinising  the  ground,  he  asked  them  what  they 
w^ere  looking  for  so  busily,  suggesting  that  they 
should  accompany  him  to  see  the  white  man 
himself,  who  would  most  certainly  give  them 
cloth  and  beads  and  other  trifles  dear  to  the 
Niapu  heart.  But  the  proposition  was  received 
with  scorn.  We  don't  want  to  see  the  white 
man,"  was  the  reply;  "  we  want  to  see  the  '  spoor  ' 
of  the  white  man's  beast." 

These  people  hold  themselves  entirely  aloof  from 
the  surrounding  tribes,  preferring  independence  to 
the  doubtful  blessings  of  an  acquaintance  with  the 
white  man  and  his  many  wiles. 

Amongst  the  Mege,  Mang-bettou,  and  all  neigh- 
bouring tribes  witchcraft  is  implicitly  believed  in. 


116 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


When  a  chief  dies  his  death  is  immediately  as- 
cribed to  "lucmidoo,"  and  suspicion  usually  points 
to  his  successor  as  its  author.  Poison  is  very 
frequently  used  by  the  sons  of  a  chief  to  remove 
any  possible  competitor  from  their  path  who  is 
likely  to  stand  in  the  way  of  their  succession  to 
the  throne.  Sometimes  also  the  ancient  tragedy 
of  David  and  Uriah  the  Hittite  is  played,  but  with 
a  poisoned  dinner  in  place  of  the  "  forefront  of  the 
battle." 

Lucundoo  "  can  be  made  to  work  in  various 
ways  ;  one  of  the  commonest  in  use  is  as  follows  : 
The  person  who  wishes  to  do  harm  to  his  enemy 
goes  in  the  dusk  to  the  neighbourhood  of  his 
victim's  village.  The  only  appliance  necessary  to 
conjure  up  the  dread  powers  of  darkness  is  a 
simple  whistle  made  of  w^ood,  hollowed  out  from 
one  end,  and  blown  as  a  schoolboy  whistles  with 
a  key.  Provided  with  this  seemingly  harmless 
weapon  the  sorcerer  walks  along  each  path  leading 
into  his  victim's  village,  blowing  lustily  on  his 
whistle  as  he  goes.  This  done,  his  vengeance  is 
complete,  for  it  is  only  necessary  to  inform  his 
enemy  that  he  has  made  "  lucundoo  "  round  his 
village  to  keep  him  from  using  the  bewitched 
paths.  New  roads  must  be  made,  and  until  this 
is  done  the  victim  of  this  magic  rite  will  not  dare 
to  stir  abroad. 

In  their  personal  habits  these  people  are  very 


THi:  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  ■  119 

cleanly ;  they  wash  two  or  three  times  a  day,  and 
when  engaged  in  work  constantly  adjourn  to  a 
neighbouring  stream  to  cleanse  themselves.  They 
wash  their  hands  before  and  after  meals,  and 
invariably  rinse  out  the  mouth  with  water  after 
having  partaken  of  food.  The  meat  may  be  either 
roasted  or  boiled,  but  I  have  noticed  that  the 
vegetables  are  always  steamed. 

In  October  I  went  south  to  the  previously  un- 
visited  Mabode  tribes  to  see  the  underground 
streams  called  Obe,  mentioned  by  Junker  and 
Casati.  At  first  we  were  well  received  by  the 
chiefs  and  people,  but  an  accident,  through  the 
inadvertence  of  a  servant  boy,  turned  their  trust 
into  suspicion,  and  I  found  myself  enclosed  on 
every  side  by  the  Mege,  Maigo,  and  Mabode  tribes. 
I  made  useless  attempts  to  conciliate  their  chiefs, 
who  became  the  bolder  after  each  attempt  to 
pacify  them,  the  more  so  as  not  long  before  they 
had  defeated  four  hundred  soldiers  of  the  Arabs 
armed  with  guns  and  supported  by  their  Azande 
neighbours.  Seeing  our  weakness — my  force 
numbered  about  sixty- five  men — they  hoped  to 
repeat  their  success. 

Finding  remonstrance  useless,  I  gave  the  chief 
warning  that  unless  he  would  come  and  meet  me 
within  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  w^hen  w^e  could  explain 
matters,  I  should  take  my  own  course,  and  the 
consequences  would  be  on  his  head.    He  did  not 


120 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


answer  to  the  summons,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  I  moved  out  of  the  zareba  to 
fight  our  way  through  the  encirchng  hordes ;  but 
these  crowds  of  gesticulating,  noisy  warriors,  when 
they  saw  their  leader  fly  were  only  too  glad  to 
follow  his  example. 

The  following  day  a  neighbouring  chief,  Mas- 


COUNCIL  OF  WAR,  BOrOTO. 


singkanda,  a  cousin  of  the  man  who  had  attacked 
me,  came  into  the  camp,  offering  any  assistance 
in  his  power.  In  the  meantime  the  hostile  natives 
endeavoured  to  raise  the  tribes  in  my  rear,  inciting 
them  to  cut  the  road  to  the  Bomokandi,  so  as  to 
prevent  my  return  to  the  banks  of  the  Welle. 
Unwilling  to  come  to  blows  with  the  tribes 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


121 


through  whose  country  I  had  already  passed,  I 
pushed  on  eastward  to  visit  the  Obe,  attacked 
on  my  way  by  the  Mabode.  I  was  obHged  in 
self-defence  to  capture  the  stockade  of  their  most 
important  village,  held  by  their  chief,  N'Dabone, 
situated  on  a  hill  some  three  hundred  feet  high. 
Starting  at  half-past  ten  in  the  evening,  I  marched 
through  the  night,  crossing  the  sw^ollen  Nava,  here 
about  one  hundred  yards  broad,  and  at  seven  in 
the  morning  I  found  myself  about  a  mile  from 
the  hill  upon  which  this  stockade  and  village 
stood. 

My  force  consisted  of  sixty  men,  the  others 
having  been  left  behind  with  the  women  and 
baggage.  Dividing  these  into  two  parties,  I 
attacked  the  Mabode  in  the  zareba  from  two 
points.  In  twenty  minutes  after  our  arrival  at 
the  stockade  we  were  inside,  the  enemy  dis- 
appearing instantly  on  our  entrance.  We  had 
one  man  killed  and  nine  wounded  with  poisoned 
arrows. 

Having  destroyed  the  stockade,  I  returned  to  my 
old  camping-ground,  where  I  was  detained  by  the 
w^ounded  for  several  days.  Meantime  the  natives, 
whose  loss  had  been  slight  on  the  taking  of  their 
village,  had  re-assembled,  and  having  called  in  the 
aid  of  the  neighbouring  Mabode  sent  word  that 
they  were  going  to  attack  me.  Finding  that  they 
had  assembled  south  of  the  Nava,  near  a  stream 

20 


122 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


about  fifty  feet  wide,  with  marsh}^  banks,  I  started 
in  the  afternoon  to  attack  them  in  their  village, 
where  their  numbers  would  not  be  of  much 
avail. 

Here  my  men,  advancing  up  the  hill,  were  con- 
siderably disconcerted  by  the  showers  of  arrows 


fc^  J 

MASOMA,   SOUTH  OF  NAVA. 

shot  down  upon  them  from  little  stages  or  refuges 
built  high  up  m  the  trees.  Besides  this  form  of 
attack,  the  Mabode  had  scooped  out  shelters  in  the 
counterscarp  of  the  trench,  and  had  filled  them 
with  spearmen,  who,  rushing  out  from  their  places 
of  concealment,  thrust  their  spears  in  the  faces  of 
the  soldiers  lying  on  the  bank.   After  half  an  hour, 

4 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


123 


having  nineteen  men  wounded,  we  had  to  retire 
to  our  camping-ground  amid  the  jeers  of  the 
Mabode. 

With  nearly  half  my  men  on  the  sick-list  or 
temporarily  disabled,  with  ammunition  running 
short,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  enemy, 
I  was  obliged  to  send  for  men  and  ammunition 
to  the  station  at  headquarters,  five  or  six  days' 
march  distant.  Until  the  arrival  of  these  rein- 
forcements I  had  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  look 
after  my  sick  followers  and  close  up  as  much  as 
possible  the  gaps  in  the  zareba. 

Like  the  other  tribes,  the  Mabode  do  not 
attack  by  night,  and  they  were  afraid  to  storm 
the  stockade  in  daytime ;  but  under  cover  of 
darkness  they  would  creep  up  and  fire  their 
poisoned  arrows  into  our  camp,  taking  as  mark 
any  light  or  fire  they  saw. 

On  the  arrival  of  Lieutenant  Laplume  from 
N'Yangara  with  men  and  ammunition,  we  again 
started  to  pay  a  surprise  visit  to  our  late  hosts, 
who  by  this  time  imagined  themselves  to  be  all- 
powerful.  We  attacked  from  another  point  this 
time,  and  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  were  inside, 
when,  as  usual,  the  defenders  disappeared  in  an 
opposite  direction.  From  here  our  progress  to 
the  Obe  was  easy — a  matter  of  about  three  hours' 
march. 

These  Mabode  live  on  the  banks  of  the  Eubi, 


124 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


in  large  villages  surrounded  by  stockades  and 
ditches,  often  to  the  number  of  three  or  four 
thousand  together.  As  the  country  is  fertile,  they 
are  an  agricultural  people,  and  the  land  is  rich  in 
the  oil  palm  and  in  all  kinds  of  grain. 

Their  weapons  are  spear  and  shield,  bows  and 


MABODE  TATTOOING   (BACK  VIEW). 

poisoned  arrows,  which  they  shoot  down,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  shelters  in  the  trees  upon  their 
enemies. 

The  Mabode  are  confirmed  cannibals,  the 
presence  of  a  white  man  having  had  little  re- 
straining influence  over  them.     They  are  not 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


125 


allowed  to  eat  a  blood-relation,  though  he  be 
killed  in  war ;  this,  however,  does  not  prevent 
them  from  cutting  up  and  cooking  the  body  and 
selling  the  flesh  thus  prepared  to  others  for  food ; 
in  short,  it  is  considered  quite  lawful  and  proper 
to  kill  an  uncle  or  an  aunt,  but  having  done  so  it 


MABODE   TATTOOING  (FRONT  VIEW). 


is  polite  to  go  round  to  the  neighbours  and  say, 
"We  killed  old  uncle  to-day;  he  was  in  fine 
condition.    What  special  joint  would  you  like?" 

These  people  tattoo  themselves,  not  as  we 
understand  tattooing,  but  by  the  excision  and 
removal  of  little  triangular  pieces  of  skin,  the 


126 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


healed  wound  leaving  permanent  scars  in  quaint 
symmetrical  designs,  both  back  and  front  being 
subject  to  this  process. 

It  is  chiefly  amongst  these  Mabode  that  the 
Pigmies  now  live.  The  Mabode  themselves  are 
smaller  in  size  than  the  other  races  around  them, 
especially  the  women,  who  are  also  darker  than 
the  generality  of  their  coloured  cousins. 

The  country  south  of  the  Welle,  down  to  the 
Ituri,  is  an  enormous  plain,  broken  here  and  there 
by  volcanic  hills,  from  whose  summit  a  view 
extending  many  miles  may  be  obtained.  This 
plain  is  rich  is  all  kinds  of  grain,  and  of  course 
the  banana  flourishes  there,  the  soil  being  excel- 
lent for  purposes  of  agriculture. 

On  the  eastern  limit  of  the  Mabode  country 
occur  the  Obe,  as  the  extraordinary  underground 
rivers  are  called.  This  cluster  of  streams  runs  in 
a  south-westerly  direction,  effecting  a  junction 
with  the  Nepoko  at  the  point  where  the  latter 
river  turns  southward  on  its  way  to  join  the  Ituri. 
An  Obe  is  indicated  by  the  marshy  texture  and 
appearance  of  the  ground,  which  is  motionless 
when  let  alone,  but  rises  and  falls  under  tread  of 
foot.  In  the  rainy  season  the  surface  is  almost 
a  swamp,  not  utterly  impassable,  but  extremely 
dangerous.  The  natives  sometimes  cross  on  their 
faces,  crawling  along  as  best  they  may.  Such  is 
the  rapidity  of  the  hidden  stream  that  a  pole 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


127 


driven  into  the  ground  that  covers  these  subter- 
ranean rivers  will  -be  actually  snatched  away  and 
borne  along  in  the  rushing  water.  In  the  dry 
season  the  surface  of  the  swamp  hardens,  and  is 
quite  safe. 

There  is  no  salt  in  the  country  of  the  Upper 
Welle.  The  natives  make  a  kind  of  saltpetre, 
which  they  use  as  a  substitute,  from  a  peculiar 
grass  that*  is  always  found  where  there  is  any- 
thing like  an  Obe. 

They  are  very  fond  of  a  black  hairy  caterpillar, 
which  they  cook  and  smoke  and  dry  at  certain 
seasons.  In  their  country  the  zebra  is  found,  in 
the  forests  upon  the  banks  of  the  Nava  ;  though 
the  natives  fear  them  they  occasionally  trap  them 
for  the  sake  of  their  hides,  which  are  greatly 
valued  by  the  chiefs. 

The  large  fish-eagle  is  a  domestic  pet.  They 
are  caught  and  tamed,  and  kept  about  the  place, 
but  are  put  to  no  practical  use. 

Their  language  is  quite  different  from  that  of 
the  Mang-bettou,  who  cannot  understand  them. 
They  speak  not  merely  in  a  different  dialect,  but 
in  quite  another  tongue. 

The  Mabode  do  not  dance,  but  they  are  fond 
of  singing.  They  hive  no  musical  instruments  ; 
in  place  of  these  they  take  two  sticks  of  dry  wood, 
one  as  thick  as  the  finger,  and  the  other  twice  as 
thick,  which  they  beat  together.    One  sings,  and 


128 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


all  take  up  the  chorus,  time  being  kept  by  the 
beating  together  of  these  sticks.  This  is  their 
sole  idea  of  music  and  melody. 

I  once  asked  them  for  a  translation  of  a  song 
they  had  been  singing.    It  was — 

*'  They  kill  us  all  with  the  gun. 
They  killed  my  father  with  the  gun  ; 
They  killed  my  mother  w^ith  the  gun  ; 
They  killed  my  brother  with  the  gun  ; 
They  kill  us  all  with  the  gun." 

These  vocalists  were  porters,  and  not  men  I 
had  been  fighting  wdth  at  all.  They  had,  how- 
ever, been  raided  three  or  four  times  of  old  by 
Arab  soldiers,  to  whom  this  ding-dong  dirge  most 
probably  referred. 

The  Momvus  tribe  are  scattered  about  among 
the  Mabode,  running  south-east  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Bomokandi.  Differing  from  the  rest  both 
in  appearance  and  language,  they  are  said  to  have 
come  from  the  south-east.  But  they  themselves 
have  no  very  clear  idea  of  their  original  home. 

The  w^omen  are  on  a  footing  of  equality  wdth 
the  men,  and  go  hunting  with  them,  and  accom- 
pany them  to  the  wars,  taking  their  part  in  the 
combat.  The  result  of  this  is  that  the  Momvus 
are  looked  dow^n  upon  by  all  the  other  tribes,  and, 
not  being  regarded  as  a  warlike  people,  are  hunted 
by  the  surrounding  cannibals,  to  be  cooked  and 
eaten.    They  are  a  lower  type  than  the  others. 


NATIVE   WITH  TATTOO  M\RKS. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


131 


both  men  and  women  being  shorter,  and  they 
differ  also  in  colour  from  the  rest.  As  a  race 
in  all  probability  they  will  gradually  become 
extinct. 

Their  arms,  too,  are  quite  peculiar.  Their 
spears,  which  are  heavy,  are  fitted  with  an  iron 
head,  and  are  shod  with  a  long  solid  iron  heel. 
Properly  speaking  they  are  an  agricultural  people, 
possessing  large  flocks  of  goats,  but  they  have  no 
cattle.  When  fighting  they  will  often  take  refuge 
in  caves,  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  dislodge 
them,  and  where  they  will  starve  to  death  rather 


ENSIGN  OF  CHIEF. 


than  surrender.  They  rarely  attack,  preferring  to 
hinder  their  enemies  by  blocking  their  path  with 
trees  and  other  obstacles,  which  hamper  their 
advance.  They  sell  their  ivory  to  the  chiefs  of 
other  tribes  for  ridiculous  prices,  and  these  re-sell 
it  to  better  advantage  when  dealing  with  the 
white  man. 

The  Momvus  are  a  subject  race,  split  up,  and 
under  the  rule  of  other  chiefs.  A  few  of  them 
retain  their  independence,  living  on  the  southern 
bank  of  the  Bomokandi.  On  the  march  through 
their  country  I  wanted  to  know  the  way  to  my 


132 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


next  halting-place,  and,  sighting  a  native  in  the 
bush,  called  to  him  to  come  out.  He  refused  at 
first,  but  after\Yards  he  came,  halting  about  twenty 
yards  away.  Then  he  asked  if  I  was  a  white 
man,  and  called  to  me  to  take  my  hat  off,  that 
he  might  convince  himself.  Satisfied  that  I  w^as, 
he  joined  me,  and  agreed  to  show  us  the  way. 


FETICH 


He  became  more  communicative  as  we  proceeded, 
walking  by  my  side  and  chatting.  Presently  he 
told  me  he  was  a  chief,  and  noticing  that  I 
looked  doubtfully  at  his  wretched  appearance  he 
said  he  would  prove  it.  Off  he  went  into  the 
bush,  soon  to  re-appear  higher  up,  bringing  with 
him  a  tusk  of  ivory  as  an  offering.    He  received 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


135 


a  present  in  exchange,  and  immediately  disap- 
peared again  into  the  dense  bush. 

The  Momvus  use  a  different  method  from  that 
of  other  tribes  in  making  their  beer  from  the 
pahn-tree.  The  ordinary  plan  is  to  tap  the  tree 
near  its  cro\yn  of  leaves,  and  to  fasten  a  wide- 
mouthed  earthenware  jar  under  the  wound  to 
catch  the  exuding  sap.  But  the  Momvus  adopt 
a  more  destructive  system,  the  Palma  Elais  being- 
common  in  their  country.  The  native  brewer 
first  selects  a  palm,  not  too  young  or  too  old ; 
this  he  cuts  down,  and,  stripping  off  the  foliage 
from  the  crown  of  the  tree,  he  makes  a  rectangular 
hole  just  where  the  leaves  begin  to  sprout  from 
the  trunk,  about  a  foot  long,  four  inches  wide, 
and  four  deep.  Having  carefully  cleaned  this 
hole,  he  covers  it  with  bark  and  leaves,  and  it  is 
thus  left  for  twenty-four  hours.  By  that  time  it 
will  be  filled  with  juicy  sap,  which,  when  fresh, 
makes  a  very  pleasant  beverage,  but  rapidly  turns 
sour.  A  tree  thus  treated  will  yield  sap  for  three 
days. 

The  Momvus  are  also  noted  for  their  skill  in 
extracting  and  clarifying  the  oil  from  the  Palma 
Elais.  This  is  done  by  boiling  the  fruit,  and 
straining  the  oil  thus  obtained  through  a  kind  of 
sieve  made  of  fibres  or  grass.  They  are  also  very 
skilful  in  working  iron,  making  arrow  and  spear- 
heads of  various  graceful  designs.    Their  shields 


136 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


differ  in  form  from  those  of  any  other  tribe,  being 
shaped  very  much  like  a  boy's  kite.  At  the  lower 
end  is  a  sort  of  basket,  to  enable  them  to  carry 
with  ease  their  heavy  spears,  by  resting  the  butts 
in  this  receptacle. 

Eeturning  from  the  Obe,  I  passed  into  the 
territory  of  Kanna,  the  big  Azande  chief,  where 
we  were  received  with  great  hospitality,  quantities 
of  eggs,  fowls,  beer,  cassava,  and  bananas  having 


MAVIMBA,  LOWER  CONGO. 


been  prepared  for  our  refreshment.  As  usual  with 
Azande  chiefs,  I  did  not  see  Kanna  until  the  day 
after  my  arrival.  We  interchanged  presents,  but 
he  disappeared  next  day  with  his  followers,  thus 
affording  fresh  proof  of  the  unfriendly  and  sus- 
picious character  of  the  tribe. 

Passing  on,  I  came  up  through  the  old  villages 
of  Assanga,  Casati's  host,  crossing  the  Bomokandi 
and  returning  to  N'Yangara. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  137 

Being  ordered  home  by  a  doctor,  after  black- 
water  fever  and  malaria,  I  left  N'Yangara  on  the 
30th  of  December,  and  reached  Djabbir  on  the  28th 
of  January;  stopping  on  my  way  down  to  shoot 
hippopotami,  geese,  water-buck,  and  elephants. 
On  the  journey  down  the  river  I  shot  two 
elephants  at  midnight,  four  hippopotami,  one 
w^ater-buck,  six  red  geese,  a  couple  of  duck, 
twenty-eight  cranes,  and  various  other  birds. 


22 


CHAPTEE  VI 


Cannibalism — Its  possible  origin  discussed — Livingstone  and 
the  Manyema — The  question  never  properly  discussed — 
Prehistoric  cannibalism — Superstition  or  choice — Canni- 
bals not  necessarily  degraded — Pigmies  not  cannibals- 
Body  -  snatching  —  The  Bangala  —  The  Bateke  —  The 
Mabode  made  no  secret  of  it — The  way  it  is  done — 
Among  the  Bangala — Among  the  other  tribes. 

TN  the  main  my  observations  upon  the  degrading 


vice  of  cannibahsm  agree  with  those  of  other 


explorers.  Livingstone  for  a  long  time  refused 
to  believe  in  the  practice,  until  the  inexorable  logic 
of  facts  forced  conviction  on  him  when  he  came 
in  contact  with  the  Manyema.  Both  Mr.  Herbert 
Ward,  the  author  of  a  note  on  "  The  Origin  and 
Distribution  of  Cannibalism,"  and  Mr.  S.  L. 
Hinde,  author  of  "  The  Fall  of  the  Congo  Arabs," 
allude  to  it. 

In  noting  the  various  theories  we  must  remem- 
ber that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  lower  animals 
will  not  devour  their  own  kind.    "  Dog  will  not 


138 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


141 


eat  dog'^  is  an  old  saying,  but  we  know  that  if 
one  wolf  falls  in  a  pack  pursuing  a  sleigh  the  rest 
of  the  pack  will  stop  to  eat  him,  and  that  certain 
snakes  will  devour  each  other. 

Fierce  hunger  has  driven  men  of  our  own  race, 
as  a  last  resource  in  the  pinch  of  hunger,  to 
satisfy  their  craving  in  this  terrible  way.  Sailors 
in  a  boat  or  on  a  raft  have  killed  their  fellows  for 
food,  and  it  is  a  sailor's  gruesome  tradition  that 
the  liver  alone  in  such  case  should  be  eaten,  as 
being  the  most  digestible. 

This  theory  came  out  with  horrible  vividness  in 
the  trial  of  the  men  of  the  Mignonette,  who  were 
indicted  and  convicted  of  manslaughter  for  the 
slaying  of  a  boy,  who  was  the  youngest  in  the 
boat.  Our  laws  lay  it  down  that  under  no  circum- 
stances is  it  lawful  to  take  a  fellow-creature's  life  ; 
but  hunger  and  the  dread  of  death  will  override 
all  law  and  induce  such  fearful  tragedies. 

In  the  practices  I  am  about  to  describe,  how- 
ever, hunger  is  not  a  factor,  superstition  and 
depraved  appetite  being  the  sole  incentives. 
There  is  an  extraordinary  religious  sentiment 
connected  with  this  custom.  As  we  have  said, 
the  flesh  of  relatives  is  never  eaten,  and  some 
tribes  forbid  the  use  of  human  flesh  to  all  women. 
That  a  cannibal  can  be  kind  and  affectionate  I 
and  others  have  observed,  and  no  evil  results  seem 
to  follow  from  the  habit ;  indeed  from  sanitary  and 


/ 


142  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

scientific  points  of  view  there  seems  to  be  no 
reason  why  the  flesh  of  man,  properly  cooked, 
should  not  be  nutritious.  The  wonder  comes  in 
when  we  find,  as  did  Livingstone,  that  in  coun- 
tries rich  in  foods,  animal  and  farinaceous,  the 
horrid  custom  is  continued. 

Food  superstitions  are  many  and  mysterious, 
but  they  will  all  give  way  under  pressure  of 
hunger ;  thus  a  good  Jew  will  never,  if  he  can 
help  it,  eat  the  flesh  of  pig  or  blood;  but  if  he 
were  so  driven  by  force  of  circumstances  that 
he  had  nothing  else  to  eat,  he  assuredly  would 
devour  them  sooner  than  starve.  So,  too,  a  good 
Eoman  Catholic  eats  no  meat  on  a  Friday ;  but 
such  fasting  would  be  foolish  and  impossible  if  life 
itself  w^ere  at  stake. 

These  and  other  considerations  —  such,  for 
instance  as  the  love  of  the  Ked  Indian  for  a 
"rib-roast"  of  dog — seem  to  show  that  the  real 
origin  of  cannibalism  was  hunger,  and  that  by 
a  process  of  heredity  and  warlike  proclivities 
it  grew  into  a  cult.  The  people  who  practise 
it  see  in  it  no  Avrong ;  so  that  nothing  but 
punishment  and  the  gradual  progress  of  civilisa- 
tion can  be  expected  to  eradicate  the  habit. 
Happily  it  is  now  slowly  disappearing,  and  the 
natives  are  beginning  to  be  ashamed  ot  a  prac- 
tice which  degrades  them  in  the  eyes  of  those 
with  whom  they  desire  to  stand  well. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


143 


Notwithstanding  its  obvious  and  vital  interest, 
writers  on  Equatorial  Africa,  who  must  of  neces- 
sity have  encountered  races  among  whom  this 
practice  was  a  part  of  every-day  life,  seem, 
intentionally  or  otherwise,  either  to  have  misled 
their  readers,  or  to  have  slurred  over  all  unplea- 


FALLS  ON  THE  CONGO 


sant  details.  None  seem  to  have  gone  to  any 
pains  in  order  to  establish  the  accuracy  of  the 
statements  they  put  forward,  or  to  confirm  bare 
assertions  founded  either  upon  hearsay  or  con- 
jecture. On  the  plea  of  wishing  to  avoid  a  dis- 
tasteful subject,  and  quite  ignoring  its  social  and 


144 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


scientific  aspect  and  value,  many  travellers 
have  deliberately  suppressed  their  notes,  or  still 
worse,  have  gone  out  of  their  way  to  give  false 
information — fearful  lest  the  truth  should  offend. 

Much  has,  however,  been  said  by  various  writers 
on  what  may  be  called  the  theoretical  side  of 
cannibalism  ;  by  which  I  mean  speculation  as 
to  its  origin,  its  history,  and  its  effects  upon  the 
people  who  practise  it.  In  a  geographical  journal 
for  July,  1893,  we  find  the  following  words  : 
"  Cannibalism  seems  to  have  prevailed  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  among  the  primitive  inhabitants 
of  Europe,  and  still  more  in  America.  The  fact 
that  no  traces  of  it  have  been  found  dating  back 
to  palaeolithic  times,  while  the  lower  animals 
rarely  devour  their  own  species,  seems  to  show 
that  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence  was  first 
attained."  With  this  may  be  compared  the 
remark  of  Peschel  that  the  custom  is  most 
prevalent  among  tribes  distinguished  by  a  certain 
social  advance. 

While,  instances  of  resort  to  human  flesh  as 
food  in  times  of  famine  are  widely  diffused,  the 
most  common  cause  seems  to  be  the  well-known 
superstition  that  by  eating  the  heart  or  other 
part  of  an  enemy,  to  which  the  practice  is  often 
restricted,  his  prowess  is  assimilated  and  acquired. 

A  true  note  is  struck  when  the  writer  we  have 
quoted  from  says  that  this  habit,  begun  from  some 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


147 


necessity,  is  "afterwards  persisted  in  from  choice." 
In  Many  em  aland  and  other  districts  of  the  Congo 
Free  State  human  sacrifices  and  rehgious  rites  are 
wholly  distinct  from  cannibalism,  which  is  per- 
sisted in  deliberately. 

Livingstone,  who  was  the  first  Englishman  to 
cross  the  Manyema  country,  travelled  through  the 
district  in  company  with  a  party  of  Arab  slave- 
traders,  under  whose  protection  he  placed  himself 
in  1869 — not  from  choice,  but  as  the  only  means 
by  which  it  was  possible  for  him  to  penetrate  into 
those  dangerous  parts.  The  journey  was  pro- 
tracted ;  halts  were  long  and  frequent ;  and  so 
he  was  enabled  to  watch  closely  the  habits, 
haunts,  and  customs  of  the  Manyema  people. 

Very  slowly  and  with  great  reluctance  Living- 
stone became  convinced  that  from  whatever  cause 
their  cannibalism  might  have  originated,  it  had 
then  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  superstition  or 
religious  rites.  The  natives  made  no  endeavour 
to  conceal  their  liking  for  human  flesh,  and  the 
great  traveller  could  no  longer  close  his  eyes  to 
a  self-evident  fact.  Since  the  country  was  full 
of  animal  and  vegetable  food,  and  starvation 
was  an  impossible  plea,  cannibalism  could  alone 
be  accounted  for  by  the  assumption  that  it  was 
the  result  of  a  depraved  appetite,  or  the  outcome 
of  greediness.  "Yet,"  said  Livingstone,  "they 
are  a  fine-looking  race;  I  would  back  a  company 


148 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


of  Manyemamen  to  be  far  superior  in  shape  of 
head,  and  generally  in  physical  form,  to  the 
whole  Anthropological  Society." 

This  unnatural  practice  stands  by  itself,  seeming 
not  in  any  way  to  affect  or  retard  the  development 
of  the  better  emotions.  Thus,  tribes  to  whom 
cannibalism  is  quite  foreign  are  in  many  cases 
more  bloodthirsty,  and  far  less  advanced,  both 
morally  and  socially,  than  others  openl}'^  addicted 
to  it.  It  does  not  follow  at  all  that  because  the 
natives  of  the  interior  evince  a  liking  for  human 
flesh,  they  are,  on  the  whole,  inferior  to  those  who 
treat  the  practice  with  contempt  and  abhorrence. 

On  this  subject  Mr.  Herbert  Ward,  author  of 
'*Five  Years  Among  the  Congo  Cannibals,"  makes 
the  following  statement:  "It  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  the  cannibal  tribes  of  the  interior  are 
altogether  brutal  in  every  action  of  life.  On  the 
contrary,  I  have  observed  more  frequent  traits  of 
affection  for  wite  and  children  than  are  exhibited 
in  the  conduct  of  domestic  affairs  among  the 
people  of  the  lower  or  Ba  Congo  country,  who 
are  not  cannibals."  This  remark  coincides  so 
exactly  with  my  own  observations  that  I  am  glad 
to  quote  it  in  full. 

The  same  argument  applies  also  to  the  dwarfs  or 
Pigmy  races  of  Central  Africa,  who  are  of  a  very 
low  type.  They  build  the  worst  huts  of  any 
people  in  the  district ;  they  have  no  arts,  nor  do 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


149 


they  till  the  soil.  Nomadic  to  the  utmost  degree, 
they  subsist  almost  solely  by  hunting,  trapping, 
and  fishing.  Yet  they  will  starve  sooner  than  eat 
human  flesh.  In  this  I  am  confirmed  by  Casati, 
who,  in  his  Ten  Years  in  Equatorial  Africa," 
gives  ample  testimony,  instancing  a  fight,  and  the 
revelling  of  the  victors  as  they  feasted  on  the 
bodies  of  the  slain,  while  their  allies,  the  Pigmies, 
weary  as  they  were  from  fighting,  scoured  the 
country  round  searching  for  vegetable ,  food. 

Dr.  Parke,  by  the  way,  in  his  book,  "Experiences 
in  Equatorial  Africa,"  inclines  to  the  opinion  that 
cannibalism  among  the  dwarfs  does  exist,  though 
they  do  not  make  a  general  practice  of  it.  "My 
Pigmy,"  he  says,  "  tells  me  that  the  people  of  her 
tribe  rarely  eat  human  flesh,  and  are  ashamed 
of  doing  so."  The  doctor,  however,  made  no 
attempt  to  verify  this  assertion,  and  frankly  I 
do  not  believe  it  is  at  all  reliable.  I  have  lived 
among  the  Pigmies  at  various  times,  and  have 
had  excellent  opportunity  for  studying  their  cha- 
racter and  customs,  but  I  have  never  encountered 
a  single  case  of  cannibalism  among  them,  nor 
did  I  ever  hear  of  one.  If  an  isolated  instance 
should  have  occurred  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  it  was  the  result  of  imitation,  for  the 
Pigmies  are  very  prone  to  imitate  their  neigh- 
bours both  in  peace  and  war. 

It  is  a  nice  literary  question  as  to  how  Shake- 


150 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


speare  gained  his  knowledge  of  "  the  anthropo- 
phagi, and  men  whose  heads  do  grow  beneath 
their  shoulders."  Did  he  mean  cannibals  and 
stunted  dwarfs?  We  shall  never  get  to  the  root 
of  his  shrewd  omniscience. 

The  practice  of  body-snatching  from  the  ceme- 
teries is  frequently  resorted  to  in  the  Bangala 


AXES,  KASSAI. 


country,  where  the  inhabitants  are  habitual  can- 
nibals. As  a  consequence  Leopoldville,  the  chief 
station  on  the  Upper  Congo,  is  obliged  to  keep  a 
regular  guard  at  the  cemetery,  as  the  Bangala  are 
constantly  coming  and  going,  against  whom  several 
cases  of  body-snatching  have  been  proved.  This 
practice  became   at  one  time  so  common  that 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


151 


nothing  short  of  capital  punishment  had  any  effect 
in  putting  a  stop  to  it. 

The  Bangala,  besides  feasting  on  the  bodies  of 
those  slain  in  battle,  are  also  in  the  habit  of  killing- 
men  for  food  Their  method  of  preparation  is 
a  cruel  one,  but  it  is  curious,  and  one  is  inclined 
to  think  there  must  be  some  hidden  origin  and 


AXES,  KASSAI. 

history  behind  it.  The  prisoner  or  slave  who  is 
to  grace  the  feast  is  not  killed  outright.  Three 
days  beforehand  his  limbs  are  broken,  after  which 
he  is  placed  chin-deep  in  a  pool  of  water,  his  head 
being  fastened  to  a  log  so  that  he  may  not  be 
drowned.  On  the  third  day  he  is  taken  out  and 
killed.     This  process  is  supposed  to  make  his 


152 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


flesh  more  tender,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
the  Bangala  can  have  arrived  at  this  conclusion. 

Mr.  S.  L.  Hinde  tells  the  following  story,  which 
will  serve  to  illustrate  the  man-eating  propensities 
of  the  Bangala:  ^'When  I  w^as  returning  from 
Stanley  Falls  on  my  homeward  journey  six  of 
the  crew  were  in  irons  on  board  ship,  whom  the 
captain  delivered  up  to  justice  at  Bangala  for 
having  eaten  two  of  their  number  during  the 
voyage  up  to  the  falls.  I  was  not  at  the  trial, 
but  the  captain  told  me  that  two  of  the  crew  had 
fallen  ill  on  the  upward  voyage,  and  had  been 
allowed  to  rest  for  a  short  time.  On  the  next 
ration  day  these  two  men  were  missing,  and, 
upon  making  inquiries,  the  captain  was  informed 
that  they  had  died  in  the  night,  and  had  been 
buried  on  shore.  This,  however,  did  not  satisfy 
him,  and  having  his  own  suspicions  he  searched 
the  ship  and  discovered  parts  of  the  men,  smoke- 
dried  and  hidden  away  in  the  lockers  of  the  six 
Bangala,  whom  he  was  then  handing  over  to  the 
authorities." 

The  ordinary  native  preparation  of  human  flesh 
for  food  is  not  so  elaborate  as  that  observed  by 
the  Bangalas,  but  is  nevertheless  carried  out 
with  great  care.  The  body  is  first  decapitated 
and  cleaned  out,  after  which  it  is  held  over  an 
ember  fire  and  thoroughly  singed,  until  every 
trace  of  hair  has   been   removed.     Then  it  is 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


153 


carefully  cut  up  into  joints,  and  is  cooked — as 
much  as  is  wanted  for  immediate  consumption — 
in  large  pots,  the  rest  being  thoroughly  smoke- 
dried  over  a  greenwood  fire.  But  the  natives 
will  eat  as  much  as  possible  while  they  can, 
for  they  are  improvident  in  everything,  taking 
no  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  being  ignorant 
of  the  most  elementary  principles  of  domestic 
economy. 

When  prisoners  are  taken  it  is  very  unusual 
to  kill  the  women  for  food ;  though  if  a  woman 
is  unable  to  keep  up  with  the  tribe  on  a  march 
she  is  shown  no  mercy,  but  is  killed  and  cut  up 
for  food  on  the  spot.  This,  bad  as  it  is,  may 
be  kinder  than  leaving  her  to  die  slowly  of 
starvation  in  the  bush,  or  to  become  the  prey 
of  wild  animals  that  infest  the  forest ;  and  the 
blacks  never  encumber  themselves  with  sick  or 
lame  on  their  march.  It  is  the  same  on  man- 
hunting  expeditions  among  tribes  that  hunt  men 
for  food.  The  women  are  not  sought  after  at 
such  times,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  a  woman 
were  shot  by  accident,  she  would  be  presently 
devoured. 

The  heads  of  those  killed  for  food,  as  I  have 
already  said,  are  rejected,  but  the  teeth  are 
extracted  and  serve  to  make  ornaments,  such  as 
necklaces  and  armbands,  which  are  worn  by  the 
women.    The  hair  too,  when  it  is  not  the  thick 

24 


154 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


wool  of  the  negro,  is  used  for  plaiting  into 
ornamental  strips.  Yery  often  the  skin  is  re- 
moved from  the  body  of  the  victim,  and  is  made 
into  drum-heads.  In  this  fashion  they  are,  if 
report  true,  followed  by  the  ladies  of  Paris,  who, 
according  to  the  latest  fad,  are  said  to  carry 
books  or  purses  bound  in  a  strip  of  human  skin. 
The  skulls  are  stuck  up  on  posts  around  the 
village.  These  Central  African  cannibals  have 
not  the  belief  which  is  held  by  others  that  to 
eat  the  heart  of  an  enemy  will  give  them  his 
courage,  or  that  by  eating  his  arms  they  receive 
his  strength. 

While  I  was  conducting  a  punitive  expedition 
agahist  the  Mabode,  I  saw  a  boy  hit  in  the 
shoulder  by  a  bullet  from  one  of  the  muzzle- 
loading  guns  that  are  used  by  the  natives,  such 
as  they  receive  in  bartering  with  the  traders. 
Looking  supremely  unconcerned  and  apathetic 
about  the  whole  affair,  he  was  carried  to  one 
side  by  the  men  nearest  to  him.  I  called  the 
men  up  and  told  them  oE  to  take  him  up  to  the 
camp  where  the  other  wounded  were  lying.  They 
objected  that  he  was  only  a  boy  and  it  did  not 
matter.  I  rated  them  for  their  insubordination 
and  saw  my  order  carried  through.  But  for 
some  time  afterwards  the  men  continued  to 
grumble,  saying  I  might  just  as  well  let  them  have 
the  boy  for  killing  when  the  work  of  the  fight 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


155 


was  done.  The  boy  recovered,  and  remained 
with  me  for  a  considerable  time ;  but  the  two 
men,  as  well  as  many  of  the  others  who  had 
heard  of  the  circmiistance,  were  highly  disgusted 
with  me,  and  laboured  long  under  a  sense  of 
^having  been  the  victims  of  gross  injustice. 


BOY,  LEOPOLDVILLE. 

I  saw  another  side  of  cannibahsm  during  the 
same  campaign.  I  was  sitting  outside  my  tent 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  after  camp  had  been 
pitched,  watching  the  men  get  their  food  ready. 
The  day's  work  had  been  a  hard  one,  and  a  good 
many  on  both  sides  had  been  left  dead  on  the 
scene  of  the  light ;  there  were  also  a  large  number 


156 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


of  wounded,  and  fewer  men  to  get  through  the 
camp  fatigue  work,  so  we  were  not  clear  until 
nearly  dark.  Presently  in  the  deepening  gloom 
a  man  passed  me,  with  a  packet  on  his  shoulders, 
neatly  done  up  in  banana  leaves.  I  asked  him 
what  he  was  carrying.  "Food,"  he  said;  "food 
for  the  men."  I  asked  what  food  it  was,  and 
he  replied  that  it  was  banana  food.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  he  and  several  of  the  other  men  were 
going  continually  to  and  fro  from  the  scene  of 
the  fight,  cutting  up  the  bodies  and  bringing 
them  down  in  small  parcels  so  as  not  to  attract 
my  notice  as  they  passed  my  tent. 

In  reality  most  of  them  are  ashamed  of  being 
cannibals,  and  are  much  confused  if  interrupted 
in  their  gruesome  work.  Nearly  always  after 
a  fight,  when  they  have  cut  up  the  fallen  and 
are  bringing  in  the  flesh,  they  will  carefully 
conceal  their  tracks,  so  that  if  you  wish  to  pass 
through  in  the  same  direction  they  will  pretend 
to  tell  you  of  a  much  better  way.  "  This  is  a 
bad  path,  infested  with  snakes  and  wild  beasts. 
It  is  quite  dangerous,  and  you  must  cross  a 
wide  river,  &c.,  &c.  But  over  there,  there  is  a 
very  fine,  clear,  easy  path,"  and  so  on.  But  they 
will  never  let  you  pass  the  place  where  they 
are  cutting  up  the  bodies,  if  they  can  possibly 
prevent  you  by  guile  or  force. 

The  Bateke  tribe,  whose  home  is  in  the  neigh- 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


157 


bourhood  of  Stanley  Pool,  are  not  as  a  rule  to  be 
considered  cannibals ;  but  the  allied  tribes,  the 
Apforu,  and  the  Bateke  of  the  French  Congo, 
follow  this  practice  to  some  degree,  as  do  a  section 
of  the  Balolo,  whose  dwelling  is  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euki  river,  and  among  the  swamps  of 
Malinga.  Other  branches  of  the  same  tribe  show 
no  signs  of  it,  and  deny  all  connection  with  the 
custom. 

The  whole  question  is  wrapped  in  mystery,  but 
the  authorities  I  have  quoted,  and  my  own  per- 
sonal observations,  practically  cover  all  that  is 
known  on  this  matter  in  Central  Africa. 


CHAPTEE  VII 


Eeturning  down  the  Welle — The  name  of  the  hippopotamus — 
I  shoot  one — The  scenery  of  a  Congo  river — Elephants' 
playground — A  night  expedition — A  chance  shot — -The 
second  elephant — We  follow  the  wounded  elephant  into 
the  bush — Ammunition  expended — A  further  supply 
obtained — The  delighted  natives — Elephant  shooting  by 
daylight  —  The  Mobanghi  paddlemen  —  The  dug-out —I 
miss — The  first  elephant  killed — The  second  afraid — Bull 
elephants  travel  in  couples — A  "picture  puzzle" — An 
elephant's  gentle  shuffle. 

ON  the  return  journey  down  the  Welle  one  day 
I  came  across  a  family  of  hippopotami  in  the 
water  a  short  distance  ahead.  It  had  always 
puzzled  me  to  think  how  this  unwieldy  inhabitant  of 
tropical  rivers  received  the  name  of  "river  horse." 
To  look  at  a  hippopotamus  as  he  moves  his  bulky 
frame  along  the  sandbanks  any  connection  even 
with  a  heavy  plough  horse  seems  absurdly  remote. 
But  the  nose  and  ears,  seen  protruding  above  the 
surface,  when  the  rest  of  the  body  is  completely 
hidden   under  water,  have   a   distinctly  equine 

158 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


159 


appearance,  which  quite  accounts  for  the  origin 
of  the  name. 

My  paddlemen  stopped  rowing  as  we  came  up 
with  the  first  beast,  a  big  cow.  I  fired  ;  the  shot 
was  clean,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
animal  turn  over  on  her  back  and  sink.  A  hippo- 
potamus when  hit  w^ill  remain  down  for  any  period 
varying  from  three  to  thirty  hours,  and  may  come 
up  anywhere  within  half  a  mile  of  the  place  w^here 
he  goes  under.  It  was  already  late  in  the  after- 
noon, and  our  halting-place  for  the  night  was  a 
village  about  half  a  mile  down-stream.  When  my 
shot  hippo  came  up  she  would  be  bound  to  pass 
the  village,  so,  deeming  it  easier  to  secure  her 
there,  where  she  w^as  certain  to  be  noticed 
sooner  or  later  by  the  natives  or  my  own  men,  I 
resumed  my  journey. 

The  scenery  of  a  Congo  river  is  practically  the 
same  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  High  banks  rise 
on  either  side,  densely  wooded  wdth  big  trees  and 
thick  undergrowth,  closely  set,  and  almost  im- 
penetrable. So  monotonous  does  this  aspect 
become  that  the  slightest  variation  is  observed 
immediately.  Such  a  difference  forced  itself  on 
my  notice  as  we  swung  down  the  stream  towards 
our  night  quarters.  The  river  curved  round  a 
projecting  rock,  just  above  which  there  w^as  a 
gap  in  the  bush  where  the  undergrowth  had  been 
trodden  down.    An  uprooted  tree  lay  across  the 


160 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


opening,  which  had  been  stamped  and  trodden 
quite  bare.  Evidently  it  was  a  place  where 
elephants  came  to  let  loose  the  exuberance  of 
their  spirits  during  the  night,  for  the  clay  banks 
and  the  adjacent  forest  both  gave  abundant 
evidence  of  having  been  the  scene  of  that  riotous 
devilment  that  is  peculiar  to  elephantine  sport. 

Arriving  at  the  village  I  sent  for  the  chief  or 
head-man.  "  Yes,  elephants  often  come  there," 
he  said ;  "  they  come  mostly  at  night,  and  as 
likely  as  not  will  return  again  to-night."  That 
was  good  enough. 

Leaving  one  canoe  in  the  village  I  set  out  late 
to  the  scene  of  the  elephants'  playground,  accom- 
panied by  two  of  my  men.  It  was  a  fine  night ; 
a  clear  moon  shone  high  in  the  starlit  sky,  tinting 
the  trees  with  silver,  and  playing  across  the 
stream  in  a  thin  line  of  wavering  ripples,  with 
the  dark  expanse  of  water  in  the  background. 
Silence  was  broken  only  by  the  soft  plashing  of 
the  paddles  and  the  rush  of  water  against  the 
bows  of  our  canoe.  The  jutting  rock  loomed 
ahead  as  we  shot  out  from  the  bank. 

"  Stamp,  squelch  !  Stamp,  squelch  !  "  Sound 
travels  easily  over  water,  and  we  could  hear  the 
elephants  enjoying  a  high  old  time  as  they 
stamped  their  solid  feet  into  the  soft  soil.  As  we 
rounded  the  point  in  the  shadow  cast  by  the  rock 
we  could  see  two  big  bull  elephants  pounding  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  163 

clay,  or  boring  into  it  with  their  gleaming  tusks. 
As  we  drew  nearer  to  the  open  space  the  brutes 
ceased  their  stamping  in  the  mud,  standing  for  a 
moment  quite  motionless.  Elephants  cannot  see 
very  far  with  their  little  pig-like  eyes,  but  their 
scent  and  hearing  are  keen  ;  and  it  was  by  these 
that  they  were  warned  of  our  approach.  We  were 
now  within  range,  and  broadside  on  to  the  nearest 
one  ;  by  -clutching  the  overhanging  branches  my 
men  held  the  boat  still,  and  I  raised  my  rifle. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  sight  a  rifle  properly  in 
the  semi-gloom  of  moonlight,  the  effect  of  the 
shot  rests  between  chance  and  judgment.  I  did 
my  best,  and  with  fortune  on  my  side  the  bullet 
reached  the  fatal  spot  between  the  ear  and  eye 
of  elephant  number  one.  An  elephant,  I  have 
noticed,  if  mortally  wounded,  always  falls  to  the 
side  on  which  the  ball  enters,  and  it  was  therefore 
with  intense  satisfaction  that  I  saw  him  slowly 
collapse  towards  me  on  the  soft  clay,  as  his  com- 
panion, startled  by  the  report,  made  off  in  the 
direction  of  the  rocky  point.  This  was  well,  for 
had  he  headed  straight  into  the  bush  sport  would 
have  been  over  for  the  evening.  The  monster 
skipped  over  a  fallen  tree-trunk  as  a  man  might 
clear  an  impediment  a  foot  high,  and  followed  the 
bank,  not,  however,  before  I  had  had  time  to  place 
a  bullet  behind  his  ear. 

After  my  shot  the  boat  drifted  back  some  yards, 


164 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


bringing  us  opposite  to  him  when  he  came  romid 
the  rock.  My  rifle  rang  again,  but  this  time  the 
bullet  flew  winged  with  less  judgment  than 
chance.  The  elephant  may  have  been  hit  in  the 
hind  quarters,  though  to  hit  an  elephant  in  any 
part  but  his  head  is  generally  about  as  effectual 
as  sticking  pins  into  his  hide.  He  pushed  on 
unchecked,  rounding  the  point  on  the  sludgy  bank, 
and  made  at  once  for  the  bush  beyond. 

A  cynical  philosopher  has  said  we  are  all 
madmen,  with  lucid  intervals  of  longer  or  shorter 
duration.  I  and  my  natives  must  have  come  just 
then  to  the  end  of  a  lucid  interval,  for  with  one 
accord  we  beached  the  canoe  and  followed  that 
wounded  elephant  into  the  bush  !  Fortunately 
for  us  he  had  not  gone  far,  but  stood  grunting  a 
few  yards  inside  the  brushwood.  He  was  evidently 
distressed,  my  first  snap-shot  having  taken  more 
effect  than  had  appeared  at  the  time.  I  crept  up 
cautiously  through  the  undergrowth  till  I  could 
see  my  quarry  standing  in  the  low  bush,  flapping 
his  ears  and  swinging  his  trunk.  The  natives 
followed  behind  me  with  their  guns,  and  within 
some  ten  yards  we  took  aim  at  haphazard,  and 
fired  together.  Again  the  elephant  grunted  and 
moved  forward.  Pell-mell  we  dashed  back  to  the 
boat,  and  waited  to  hear  him  crash  away  through 
the  forest. 

Slowly  we  crept  out  again,  stole  up  the  bank 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


165 


and  plugged  three  more  bullets  into  him.  Then 
we  bolted  back  to  the  dug-out.  This  time  we 
could  hear  him  flapping  his  ears  and  grunting,  but 
he  held  his  ground.    Back  again  we  sneaked,  close 


AMAIIYLLIS. 


up  to  him.  "  Bang  !  "  went  the  three  guns  again, 
and  the  poor  brute,  majestic  to  the  last,  dropped 
to  his  knees,  his  ears  still  flapping. 

By  this  time  our  ammunition  was  expended,  for 


166 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


I  had  only  brought  half  a  dozen  cartridges,  never 
expecting  to  see  an  elephant  at  all,  much  less  two 
old  bulls.  So  I  sent  one  of  my  men  back  to  the 
village  for  a  fresh  supply  while  I  waited  with  the 
other.  The  flapping  of  the  elephant's  ears  ceased 
gradually,  and  presently  absolute  stillness  hung 
over  the  surrounding  bush. 

My  man  soon  returned  accompanied  by  some 
more  of  my  followers  and  some  village  folk. 
Loading  again,  I  and  the  two  men  who  had 
accompanied  me  followed  up  to  the  spot  where 
the  elephant  had  dropped.  He  was  lying  on  his 
knees,  and  with  the  grey  moonlight  upon  him 
looked  like  some  huge  graven  image.  I  fired  a 
shot  into  his  head,  but  he  did  not  stir.  In  falling- 
he  had  driven  his  tusks,  each  three  feet  long,  right 
up  to  the  gums  into  the  hard  ground.  In  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  a  couple  of  hundred  yelling  and  de- 
lighted natives  were  busily  at  work  cutting  up  the 
two  carcases. 

It  was  on  the  same  river  that  my  next  encounter 
with  elephants  took  place — this  time  in  daylight. 
We  were  coming  down  a  reach  of  the  river  that 
stretched  straight  ahead  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, in  fact  almost  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 
I  was  sitting  in  the  middle  of  the  leading  canoe 
half  asleep  under  the  native  awning  ;  the  crew, 
men  of  the  Mobanghi  tribe,  were  paddling  gentl}^, 
singing  some  boating-song  of  their  own,  as  they 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


167 


invariably  do  when  rowing.  One  man  takes  the 
lead  with  a  ditty  of  purely  tribal  interest,  the  text 
of  which  he  often  composes  as  he  goes  along  ;  the 
others  take  up  the  refrain  in  a  chorus  at  the  end 
of  each  verse. 

I  noticed  suddenly  that  they  had  ceased  singing, 
an  indication  that  something  had  attracted  their 
attention ;  the  native  is  keen-sighted  as  a  hawk, 
and  reads  the  signs  of  the  river  like  large  print. 
Nobody  spoke ;  so,  knowing  their  peculiarity  of 
never  volunteering  information,  or  giving  any  hint 
save  in  reply  to  a  direct  question,  I  asked  the 
nearest  man  if  they  had  seen  anything.  Yes,  they 
had."  I  asked  what  it  was,  and  he  told  me  there 
w^ere  two  elephants  standing  in  the  water  some 
way  down  the  reach.  I  looked  ahead,  and  at  first 
could  discern  nothing.  Presently,  as  the  canoe 
proceeded,  I  managed  to  make  out  the  elephants 
that  my  men  had  spotted  a  hundred  yards  back. 
I  loaded  my  rifle,  and  cautioning  the  men  waited 
anxiously  till  we  should  come  within  range. 

A  native  canoe,  or  dug-out,  is  of  course  entirely 
without  a  keel,  and  consequently  answers  with  a 
roll  to  the  slightest  movement  of  the  body,  or  even 
of  the  head.  Therefore  when  one  is  firing  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  each  person  shall  sifc 
perfectly  still,  or  the  chances  of  an  accurate  shot 
are  very  remote.  But  this  time  it  looked  easy 
enough.    The   elephants  were   standing   in  the 


168 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


water  at  a  half -right  turn,  facing  the  river,  with 
their  hind-quarters  to  the  ten-feet-high  bank, 
which  was  covered  with  thick,  high  grass.  I 
aimed  at  the  nearer  one,  sighting  as  much  as 
possible  between  the  eye  and  the  ear,  as  the  canoe 
swung  down.  But  as  I  fired  one  of  the  men  in 
front  moved  slightly ;  the  canoe  rolled,  not  very 
much,  but  sufficient  to  render  my  shot  useless. 
Frightened  by  the  report,  the  animals  turned 
quickly  round,  dashing  down  the  stream  and 
following  the  bank.  I  hurriedly  reloaded,  but  the 
elephants  had  already  turned.  They  were  trying 
to  climb  the  bank,  and  I  thought  all  was  lost. 
Once  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge  they  were  as 
good  as  gone,  for  before  I  could  have  landed  they 
would  have  disappeared  into  the  thick  bush.  I 
fired  at  the  leader  the  moment  he  reached  the  top ; 
to  my  delight  he  slowly  raised  himself  and  rolled 
backwards  down  the  bank,  striking  the  water  with 
a  loud  splash.  The  other  might  at  that  moment 
have  gained  his  freedom ;  but  seeing  his  com- 
panion fall  in  this  unaccountable  manner,  he 
turned  (probably  thinking  the  ground  treacherous) 
and  headed  back  to  cross  the  river,  thus  placing 
himself  at  my  mercy.  A  couple  of  shots  sufficed 
to  cut  short  his  career. 

My  only  other  elephant  was  shot  in  a  different 
manner,  but  one  so  curious  as  to  be  worth  relating. 
Bull  elephants  frequently  travel  in  pairs,  and  on 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  169 

this  occasion  we  sighted  them  at  the  mouth  of  a 
small  stream  that  discharged  its  waters  into  the 
main  river.  The  banks  of  the  streamlet  were 
thickly  covered  with  bush  and  trees,  if  possible 
even  denser  than  the  thick  brush  that  edged  the 
river.  As  we  came  to  the  place  where  we  had 
seen  the  elephants  standing,  we  found  they  had 
gone  away  up  the  rivulet.  Turning  the  canoe,  we 
attempted  to  follow,  but  the  little  stream  had 
not  sufficient  depth  to  permit  of  our  passage. 
Scrambling  on  to  the  bank  we  started  to  pick  our 
way  through  the  bush  to  see  if  by  any  chance  the 
animals  had  not  gone  of!  into  the  forest,  as  they 
generally  do  when  scared. 

A  Mobanghi  led  the  way ;  I  was  following  close 
behind  him,  creeping  along  as  noiselessly  as 
possible  through  the  tangled  undergrowth,  while 
doing  my  best  to  keep  up  with  him.  Suddenly  he 
raised  his  hand,  a  sign  that  the  elephants  were 
there.  I  looked,  but  in  spite  of  the  gesticulations 
of  the  native  could  see  nothing — nothing  but  the 
dense  forest,  thickly  covered  with  a  tangle  of 
brown  creepers,  festooned  among  the  dark  tree 
stems.  As  I  peered  into  the  dim  light  that 
struggled  through  the  overhanging  foliage  some- 
thing moved.  It  was  the  flickering  of  an  ear. 
There  stood  the  elephants  scarcely  five  yards 
away  ! 

Then  of  course  I  could  see  them.    It  reminded 

26 


170 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


me  of  a  picture-puzzle,  once  3'ou  can  see  the  out- 
line sought  for  you  are  surprised  that  it  ever 
escaped  your  notice.  I  could  now  trace  the  huge 
bulk  of  the  elephant's  body,  and  could  see  a  little 
pig-like  eye  blinking.  I  fired,  and  with  a  rush 
they  both  made  off ;  the  one  that  was  not  hit  got 


SANGO  TYPE. 


away  across  the  stream,  the  other  turned  sharp 
round  to  the  left  and  came  back  in  a  circle, 
standing  still  a  few  yards  from  us.  I  shot  him 
where  he  stood. 

These  five  were  the  only  elephants  I  ever  killed, 
but  in  extenuation  it  may  be  mentioned  that  they 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


171 


were  the  only  five  I  ever  shot  at.  To  go  out 
elephant-shooting  through  the  high  grass  or  the 
bush  is  vanity  and  vexation,  with  the  smallest 
possible  chance  of  sport.  An  elephant  can  move 
through  the  densest  forest  as  we  walk  across  a 
lawn;  to  keep  up  with  his  "gentle  shuffle"  is 
almost  impossible  in  the  open,  and  quite  so  in  the 
bush  ;  while  to  follow  behind  him  in  the  path  that 
he  clears,  is  equally  futile,  for  the  obvious  reason 
that  it  is  only  by  shooting  him  broadside  on  that 
your  bullet  is  likely  to  have  the  slightest  effect. 


CHAPTEK  YIII 


Early  traces  of  the  Pigmies — Possible  relation  to  the  people  of 
fairy  legends — The  Akka — Division — Tribe  mark — Villages 
— Mental  state — Physical  state — Instruments — Dancing 
— Hunting — Weapons — Bananas — Purchase  their  instru- 
ments —  Chiefs  —  Nominal  protection  —  The  Albino  — 
Nomads  —  Burial  rites — Under  ^Yhite  influence  —  Their 
language — Making  fire. 

IN  the  course  of  my  travels  I  came  more  than 
once  across  the  Pigmies,  and  had  every  chance 
of  studying  the  make  and  manners  of  these 
queer  httle  freaks,  whose  history  has  ever  had  a 
strange  attraction  for  ethnologists.  Stanley  saw 
and  took  stock  of  them,  and  succeeded  in  inter- 
viewing one  of  their  princesses,  who,  with  her 
people,  lived  in  the  gloom  of  the  great  Central 
African  forest.  But  long  before  Mr.  Stanley's  time 
Herodotus  recorded  their  existence  and  customs. 
He  tells  us,  in  his  own  half-serious,  half-humorous 
fashion,  of  a  certain  ill-fated  warrior  w^ho  sailed 
through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  after  failing  to 

172 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


173 


double  the  Cape  of  Lybia,  then  supposed  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  water,  returned  to  Egypt,  and  thence  to 
the  court  of  Xerxes,  where,  in  detaihng  his  adven- 
tures, he  spoke  of  a  nation  of  httle  men  who 
wore  garments  made  of  pahn-leaves,  and  who  left 
their  cities  and  fled  to  the  mountains  on  the 
approach  of  the  invaders."  The  "Father  of 
History  "  is  quite  concise  on  this  point,  speaking 
with  more  authority  than  he  does  concerning  the 


TKIBE   FROM  UPPER  MONGALA  RIVER. 


Troglodytes,  who  could  only  "  screech  like  bats," 
or  the  fabled  Phoenix  he  so  quaintly  mocks  at. 

Kelics  and  stories  of  these  mannikins  are  to  be 
found  in  all  countries  :  witness  the  Dwarfs  of  the 
German  mountains,  the  Scandinavian  Trolls,  and 
the  Irish  Leprechauns.  True,  these  small  folk  are 
now  legendary  and  belong  to  the  enchanted  realm 
of  Fairyland ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  at  one  time 
they  flourished  on  the  face  of  the  earth  in  the  flesh, 
being  ultimately  killed  off  to  allow  the  survival  of 
the  fittest ;  consequently  it  was  of   the  highest 


174 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


interest  to  find  some  of  them  in  their  primitive 
and  aboriginal  state. 

While  we  know  that  once  upon  a  time  there 
were  giants  in  the  land,"  we  have  no  record  to 
show  that  they  were  tribal ;  but  all  dwarf  history 
points  to  a  family  form,  their  weapons,  customs, 
and  habits  being  but  slightly  varied.  No  nation  of 
giants  now  exists  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  perhaps 
King  Arthur  and  his  knights  slew  the  last  of  the 
British  variety,  and  if  any  specimens  remain  they 
are  either  attached  to  a  travelling  circus  or  killed 
by  Jack  the  Giantkiller  at  Christmas-time.  The 
giant,  in  short,  is  either  a  myth  or  a  monstrosity, 
but  the  pigmy  is  still  a  living  and  interesting  fact. 
I  came  across  them  in  the  land  of  the  Mabode,  to 
whom  they  arc  much  attached,  and  had  exceptional 
opportunities  of  making  a  study  of  the  Akka,  as 
these  wee  people  are  called  by  the  Mang-bettou. 

They  are  chiefly  found  amongst  the  Mabode  and 
Maigo  tribes  or  among  the  Momvus,  their  district 
being  roughly  between  two  and  three  degrees  north. 
The  Mabode  call  them  Balia,  the  Azande  Tikki- 
tikki. 

The  term  Akka,  by  which  the  Pigmies  are 
known  amongst  the  tribes  speaking  the  Mang- 
bettou  language,  is  a  corrupt  form  of  Achua  or 
Wochua,  the  name  by  which  the  people  call 
themselves,  the  prefix  W  indicating  the  plural, 
and  being  common  to   other   Bantu  languages. 


PIGMY. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


177 


They  are  known  by  different  names  according 
to  the  language  of  the  people  in  whose  territory 
they  happen  to  have  made  their  temporary  settle- 
ment— Watwa  in  the  basin  of  the  Lunglulu,  Balia 
by  the  Mabode,  and  Batwa  (singular  Mutua,  from 
the  root  Tica^  Ttva)  in  many  districts  of  Central 
Africa. 

Mr.  Stanley  classes  them  as  kinsmen  of  the  Cape 
Bushmen,  and  indeed  there  are  many  external 
evidences  in  support  of  this  theory.  Weismann 
considers  the  connection  between  the  two  races  to 
be  unquestionable ;  and  the  few  deviations  in  their 
physical  appearance  are  no  doubt  to  be  attributed 
to  the  influence  of  climate  or  the  difference  of 
environment.  If  we  compare  Fritch's  observations 
on  the  Bushmen  with  those  of  other  travellers  on 
the  Akka,  we  cannot  fail  to  attach  considerable 
credence  to  the  theory  of  their  relationship. 

Their  height  brings  them  to  about  the  shoulder 
of  a  man  of  average  stature,  but  they  are  by  no 
means  uniform  in  size.  Some  are  not  higher  than 
the  chest,  while  I  have  found  others  as  tall  as  a 
negro  of  medium  height  ;  but  they  differ  from  the 
negroes  in  many  points.  They  are  lighter  in  com- 
plexion, and  while  the  hair  of  the  negro,  be  he 
never  so  fair  in  complexion,  is  invariably  curly  and 
black  of  the  deepest  hue,  among  the  Akka  it  is  not 
unfrequently  a  dark  rusty  brown.  Nor  are  they  so 
hairy  as  most  negroes.    The  black  Pigmies,  it  is 

27 


178 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


true,  are  covered  with  down,  but  the  red  have 
seldom  very  hirsute  bodies.  They  are  a  well- 
proportioned  race,  and,  with  the  exception  of  their 
remarkably  short  stature,  may  be  regarded  as 
normal  and  well  developed,  not  degenerate,  as  has 
often  been  stated,  though  socially  inferior  to  other 
tribes. 

Nomads  by  nature,  the  communities  of  the  Akka 
are  at  home  in  no  particular  country,  but  wander 
from  place  to  place,  supporting  life  by  hunting. 
Though  one  place  seems  to  be  much  the  same  as 
another  to  them  and  to  be  valued  only  according 
to  its  possibilities  as  a  hunting-ground,  these  little 
people  have  a  marked  preference  for  the  territories 
of  certain  tribes  and  an  aversion  to  others,  within 
whose  confines  they  are  seldom  seen.  They  avoid 
the  Mege,  for  instance,  and  show  a  predilection  for 
living  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Mabode  or 
Momvus  settlements,  where  they  are  treated  with 
something  more  than  mere  toleration. 

They  are,  indeed,  considered  as  valuable  allies 
whose  assistance  is  worth  having  against  an  out- 
side foe  ;  and,  in  spite  of  their  small  numbers,  they 
are  feared  as  well  as  respected  from  their  revenge- 
ful nature  and  their  hardihood  in  war.  They  on 
their  part  are  quite  willing  to  fight  loyally  for  the 
chief  under  whose  nominal  rule  they  lead  their 
gipsy  life,  and  will  remain  in  his  district  on  these 
terms  as  long  as  relations  between  themselves  and 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


179 


the  chief  are  friendly.  Otherwise  they  abandon 
their  huts  and  move  oE  at  once  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  another  chief,  where  they  settle  afresh 
and  continue  to  live  under  a  similar  tacit  agree- 
ment. 

They  are,  however,  quite  independent,  and  con- 
sider themselves  under  no  obligation  to  the  people 
of  the  tribe  they  may  for  the  time  be  associated 
with.  Thus  they  preserve  their  freedom,  of  which 
they  are  intensely  jealous,  and  hold  themselves 
entirely  aloof  from  other  natives,  among  w^hom 
they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage. 

Dr.  Junker,  in  his  travels  in  Africa,  has  alluded 
to  the  Pigmies  as  being  "  thievish."  This,  how^- 
ever,  is  unsupported  by  evidence,  the  doctor  having 
none  at  his  disposal,  and  is  altogether  incorrect. 
The  Pigmy  will  scorn  theft,  and  whatever  may  be 
his  faihngs  and  natural  shortcomings,  he  ranks  far 
above  the  negro  in  this  respect.  He  will  lie, 
deceive,  and  trick  as  much  as  the  w^orst  of  them, 
and  often  with  a  great  deal  more  astuteness  ;  he  is 
cunning,  revengeful,  and  suspicious,  but  he  will 
never  steal. 

The  Pigmy  is  an  excellent  archer.  In  this 
accomplishment  he  stands  far  ahead  of  his  negro 
neighbours,  and  can  perform  feats  of  marksman- 
ship wdth  his  little  bow  and  arrows  that  are  really 
marvellous.  He  will  shoot  three  or  four  arrows 
one  after  the  other,  with  such  rapidity  that  the 


180 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


last  will  have  left  the  bow  before  the  first  has 
reached  its  goal.  When  an  arrow  misses  its  mark 
he  will  fly  into  a  violent  passion,  breaking  his  bow 
and  arrows  in  his  rage. 

Fear  of  their  vengeance  causes  them  to  be  held 
in  awe  by  other  tribes.  For  instance,  a  Pigmy  will 
mark  out  a  bunch  of  bananas  in  a  plantation  by 
shooting  an  arrow  into  the  stalk,  thus  signifying 
his  wish  for  them  when  sufficiently  ripe.  The 
owner  of  the  tree,  in  dread  of  their  displeasure, 
would  never  dream  of  removing  the  fruit  or  the 
arrow,  but  would  leave  it  there  until  the  Pigmy 
should  come  for  both. 

Their  power  of  observation,  as  may  be  readily 
understood,  is  wonderfully  keen.  Accustomed  to 
depend  upon  keenness  of  sight  for  his  daily  food, 
and  by  his  hunter's  life  brought  into  close  contact 
with  the  dangers  of  the  bush,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Pigmy  should  have  cultivated  quickness 
of  sight  and  keenness  of  perception  to  a  degree 
found  among  no  other  race  of  human  beings. 
Mimicry,  too,  plays  a  large  part  in  the  formation 
and  development  of  his  character,  evincing  itself 
not  onl}'  in  his  droll  humour,  but  also  in  the 
serious  facts  of  his  everyday  life,  for  he  copies  the 
weapons  of  his  neighbours,  and  even  their  habits 
and  customs,  where  these  do  not  clash  with  his 
own. 

Ilis  mimicry  is  aided  by  a  good  memory,  capable 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


181 


of  retaining  the  most  insignificant  details  for  long 
periods.  Dr.  Junker  tells  a  story  of  how  he  met 
an  Akka  at  a  camp  whom  he  had  measured  for 
anthropometric  purposes  four  years  previously  at 
Rumbek.  "His  comical  ways,"  he  says,  "and 
quick,  nimble  movements  made  this  little  fellow 
the  clown  of  our  society.  .  .  .  His  imitations  of 
Hawash  Effendi  in  a  towering  rage,  storming  and 
abusing  .everybody,  were  a  great  success ;  and  he 
took  me  off  to  the  life,  reproducing  after  four 
years,  down  to  the  minutest  details  and  with 
surprising  accuracy,  my  movements  when  measur- 
ing his  body  in  Rumbek." 

There  are  two  tribes,  distinguished  as  the  black 
and  the  red  Akka.  The  black  Pigmies  are  two  or 
three  inches  taller  than  the  red,  but  they  are 
obviously  an  inferior  race,  not  so  well  formed  nor 
so  intelligent  -  looking  as  their  ruddy  kinsmen. 
These  two  distinct  tribes,  who  do  not  live  together 
or  apparently  assimilate  in  any  way,  have  in  com- 
mon a  heavy  overhanging  upper  lip,  and  do  not 
tattoo.  Extremely  exclusive,  shy,  and  wary  when 
in  the  bush,  when  taken  prisoners  they  become 
fearless  and  defiant.  Very  vindictive  when  they 
think  themselves  unjustly  treated,  they  are  other- 
wise faithful.  As  an  example  of  their  natural 
qualities  I  noted  that  they  are  remarkably  jealous 
of  one  another ;  they  make  no  friends  of  their  own 
kind  when  among  other  tribes,  but  will  become 


182 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


very  friendly  with  the  other  natives.  A  parallel 
to  this  quality  we  find  in  the  animal  world,  for 
wild  birds  will  kill  their  tame  kindred,  and  the 
wild  mouse  will,  if  he  can  get  at  them,  kill  his 
caged  and  delicate  white  brothers. 

Pigmies  have  apparently  no  ties  of  family  affec- 
tion, such  as  those  of  mother  to  son,  or  sister  to 
brother,  and  seem  to  be  wanting  in  all  social 
qualities,  asking  nothing  more  than  to  be  let 
alone,  to  "live  and  let  live." 

Their  villages,  if  such  they  can  be  called,  consist 
of  groups  of  perhaps  thirty  small  beehive-shaped 
huts,  each  about  four  feet  high ;  the  entrance  is 
a  small  opening  a  foot  and  a  half  high,  allowing 
just  room  enough  for  them  to  creep  through. 
They  make  their  beds  of  sticks  driven  into  the 
ground  at  four  corners,  with  other  sticks  placed 
across,  the  whole  being  raised  a  few  inches  from 
the  floor.  Each  village  is  under  the  leadership  of 
a  head-man  or  chief. 

The  low  state  of  their  mental  development  is 
shown  by  the  following  facts.  They  have  no 
regard  for  time,  nor  have  they  any  records  or 
traditions  of  the  past ;  no  religion  is  known  among 
them,  nor  have  they  any  fetich  rights  ;  they  do 
not  seek  to  know  the  future  by  occult  means,  as 
do  their  neighbours ;  in  short,  they  are,  to  my 
thinking,  the  closest  link  with  the  original  Dar- 
winian anthropoid  ape  extant. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


183 


Pigmies  are  strong,  sinewy,  and  muscular,  fear- 
less and  daring.  They  have  a  dislike  for  water, 
and  are  not  cleanly  in  their  habits  as  are  other 
tribes.  Very  few  of  them  can  swim,  and  probably 
they  know  nothing  of  the  art,  living,  as  they  do, 
chiefly  on  dry  land. 

The  dress  of  the  Pigmies  is  very  simple.  The 
men  wear  a  plain  strip  of  cloth  round  the  loins,  the 
women  pimply  a  bunch  of  leaves.  They  have  no 
ornaments  of  any  kind — a  fact  which  shows  their 
low  development,  for  women  as  a  rule  use  orna- 
ments as  attractions  in  savage  life  as  well  as 
in  civilised.  Possibly  when  the  New  Pigmy 
Woman  arrives  she  will  introduce  necklaces  and 
earrings. 

Musical  instruments  are  unknown  to  them  ;  even 
their  dancing  is  conducted  without  any  sweeter 
sound  than  the  rhythmical  tapping  of  a  bow  with 
an  arrow.  Their  whole  idea  of  dancing  is  to  strut 
round  in  a  circle,  with  their  legs  quite  stiff,  beating 
time  with  bow  and  arrow,  as  just  mentioned,  and 
adding'  absurd  emphasis  to  the  general  effect  by 
their  set  and  solemn  countenances. 

Having  no  religion,  no  family  ties,  no  joy  in 
sports  or  games,  and  no  fixed  home,  their  one 
object  and  occupation  is  hunting,  at  which  they 
are  such  adepts  that  it  is  a  sight,  as  has  been  said 
before,  to  see  them  handle  their  small  bows  and 
arrows.    They  also  carry  a  short,  light  spear,  a 


184 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


weapon  they  have  copied  from  other  tribes,  but  no 
shield,  nor  do  they  poison  their  arrows,  which  are 
not  tipped  with  flint,  as  has  been  asserted. 

The  Beiige  poison  is  erroneously  described  by  Dr. 
Parke,  Medical  Officer  of  the  Emin  Pasha  Belief 
Expedition,  as  the  arrow-poison  of  the  Pigmies, 
and  is  thus  alluded  to  under  article  iv.  in  the 
doctor's  paper  on  the  poisons  of  Central  Africa. 
There  are,  however,  several  discrepancies  in  his 
account  of  the  plant  and  poison,  which  I  have  no 
difficulty  in  recognising  by  the  diagrams  and 
illustrations  that  accompany  his  article. 

First  I  will  quote  Dr.  Parke's  delineation,  in 
which  I  recognise  the  Beiige  poison  plant : — 

Green  Stem. — This  is  obtained  from  a  branch- 
ing shrub  which  is  very  common  in  the  forest.  It 
grows  to  a  height  of  ten  or  twelve  feet,  and  the 
stem  in  the  thickest  part  is  not  more  than  two 
inches  in  diameter.  It  is  of  a  dark  green  colour 
at  the  upper  part  of  the  plant.  The  leaves  are 
dark  green  on  the  upper  surface  and  a  paler  tint 
below ;  there  are  three  principal  veins  or  orbs ; 
and  the  lateral  veins  are  given  off  at  an  acute 
angle  from  each  of  these.  The  leaf  is  from  three 
to  six  or  even  eight  inches  long  and  about  half  as 
broad,  the  large  veins  being  depressed  upon  the 
upper  and  prominent  on  the  lower  surface  of  the 
leaf.  The  scrapings  only  of  the  bark  are  used,  to 
the  amount  of  a  dessert-spoonful  in  preparing  a  tea- 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


185 


cupful  of  poison.  The  plant  had  neither  flowers 
nor  leaves  when  I  saw  it." 

Writing  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Parke,  Mr. 
E.  L.  Holmes,  F.L.S.,  identifies  this  as  follows  : 
^'  Judging  from  the  structure  of  the  stem,  and  the 
character  of  the  single  imperfect  leaf  brought  home 
by  Surgeon  Parke,  this  ingredient  is  composed  of 
the  stems  of  a  species  of  Strychnos,  probably  S. 
Icaja,  Baillon.  The  scars  on  the  stem  are  opposite, 
and  indicate  opposite  leaves,  and  the  venation  of  the 
leaf  is  characteristic  of  the  genus  Strychnos.  Of 
this  there  are  several  African  species  known,  but 
only  two  of  these  have  leaves  as  large  as  the 
one  under  consideration.  The  S.  Icaja,  Baill. 
(S.  M'Boundou,  of  Heckel)  is  known  to  be  used 
in  the  Gaboon  as  an  arrow-poison,  and  by  the 
Pigmies. 

^'In  the  Hanbury  Herbarium  there  is  a  speci- 
men of  this  plant,  and  on  seeing  Surgeon  Parke's 
leaf  I  at  once  recognised  the  strong  resemblance 
to  this  which  it  possessed.  On  showing  the  Han- 
bury specimen  to  Surgeon  Parke  he  pointed  out 
the  acuminate  apex  of  the  leaf  as  having  par- 
ticularly attracted  his  attention  in  the  growing 
plant,  and  expressed  assurance  as  to  their  identity." 

All  these  details  given  by  Dr.  Parke  as  to  the 
appearance  and  structure  of  the  plant  agree  entirely 
with  my  own  observations.  We  differ,  however,  in 
one  important  respect.    The  poison  is  obtained  not 

28 


186 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


from  the  bark,  but  from  the  root  of  the  plant, 
Avhich  is  scraped  to  obtain  the  ingredient  ;  and 
although  I  cannot  say  anything  about  the  poisonous 
property  of  the  stem,  I  can  assert  that  the  natives 
invariahhj  use  the  root^  and  never,  to  my  knowledge, 
the  green  bark.  The  root,  of  course,  is  solid 
throughout,  while  the  green  stem  is  hollow ;  and  I 
was  fortunately  able  to  bring  back  with  me  several 
specimens  of  it,  with  a  view  to  going  deeper  into 
the  matter.  The  wood  is  hard,  yellow,  and  fibrous ; 
the  root,  when  first  pulled  up,  is  of  a  bright  red 
hue,  the  stem  above  ground  being  green.  It  is 
from  this  red  coating  that  the  poison  is  obtained  ; 
the  stem  is  scraped,  and  the  poison  made  after  the 
manner  described  by  Dr.  Parke. 

For  the  rest,  his  description  of  the  plant  agrees 
with  my  own  observation  of  it,  and  I  am  able  to 
confirm  what  he  says  as  to  its  barren  nature.  The 
plant  has  neither  flower  nor  fruit — I  have  seen  it 
at  all  seasons,  and  never  yet  observed  the  appear- 
ance of  one  or  the  other.  The  sketch  accompany- 
ing Dr.  Parke's  article  shows  only  the  leaf  and  the 
hollow  stem. 

On  my  return  from  Africa  I  sent  the  specimens 
to  Mr.  Holmes  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Society's 
Museum.  He  very  kindly  examined  them,  and 
thus  was  able  to  reassert  his  opinion  that  they 
belong  to  the  genus  Strychnos,  and  are  in  all 
probability  the  S.  Icaja  already  indicated. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


187 


Full}^  occupied  in  hunting,  Pigmies  do  not  culti- 
vate the  soil,  and  for  this  reason,  among  others,  as 
is  the  case  with  the  Eskimo,  they  stand  low  in  the 
scale  of  civilisation.  Skilful  trappers  and  hunters, 
they  can  kill  even  elephants  with  their  little  bows 
and  arrows,  blinding  the  animal  first  by  shooting 
at  his  eyes.  Once  he  is  blind,  they  never  leave  him 
till  he  falls. 


METHOD  OF  FISHING  ON   THE  CONGO. 


They  are  remarkably  clever  fishermen.  With  a 
morsel  of  meat  tied  to  a  piece  of  string,  and  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  hook,  they  will  succeed  in  landing 
heavy  fish,  while  less-skilled  fishermen,  with  hooks 
and  lines,  may  not  be  able  to  secure  one. 

As  a  rule  the  Pigmies  take  up  their  abode  near 
a  village  of  some  big  chief,  where  they  are  sure  of 
finding  large  banana  plantations.     Though  they 


188 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


grow  no  food  of  any  kind  on  their  own  account, 
they  are  extremely  fond  of  the  unripe  long  banana, 
and  their  method  of  obtaining  this  delicacy  is 
simple.  On  returning  from  a  day's  hunting  the 
Pigmy  carefully  wraps  up  several  small  pieces  of 
meat  in  grass  or  leaves,  betakes  himself  to  the 
nearest  banana  plantation,  and,  having  selected 
the  bunches  of  bananas  he  requires,  shins  up  the 
tree,  cuts  down  the  bunches  selected,  and  in  pay- 
ment affixes  one  of  the  small  packets  of  meat  to 
the  stem  by  a  little  wooden  skewer.  By  this 
means  he  satisfies  his  conscience,  and  can  declare 
that  he  has  not  stolen  the  bananas,  but  only 
bought  them,  for  the  Pigmy,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
very  angry  at  the  merest  suggestion  of  theft. 

Pigmies  do  no  work  of  any  sort  or  kind,  pur- 
chasing their  arrow-heads,  knives,  and  spears  from 
the  neighbouring  tribes  in  exchange  for  meat,  or 
^or  women  whom  they  have  seized  in  the  bush. 

Each  village  has  a  chief,  but  there  are  no  grada- 
tions of  rank  among  the  people.  Every  man 
fights  for  his  own  chief,  and  has  no  knowledge  of 
combination,  only  fighting  when  necessity  demands 
it.  When  they  attack  strangers  in  the  bush  they 
keep  so  close  that  nothing  is  seen  of  them  except 
their  arrows,  but  in  the  open  they  are  very  plucky. 
Owning  no  territory,  and  having  nothing  to  make 
war  for  on  their  own  account,  they  squat  among 
this  tribe  or  that,  according  to  convenience,  but 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


189 


tliey  show  no  particular  attachment  to  any  one 
spot,  wandering  wee  Ishmaelites  as  they  are  ! 
Native  chiefs  often  try  to  get  hold  of  Pigmy  boys, 
whom  they  adopt,  and  who  become  a  sort  of  body- 
guard to  them,  and  spies  on  their  own  people. 
A  striking  instance  of  their  disregard  for  home 


A  BAS-CONGO  CARllIER. 


and  its  memories  was  afforded  when  I  had  occasion 
to  revisit  the  birthplace  of  my  Pigmy  boy  as  I 
returned  through  the  Mabode  country.  He  was 
with  me  at  the  time,  but  as  we  approached  the 
village — they  were  still  on  the  same  encampment 
ground,  or  very  near  it — ^he  showed  not  the  least 
pleasure  at  the  sight  of  the  place.    It  might  have 


190 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


been  his  first  visit  to  the  district  to  judge  by  the 
absence  of  any  display  of  emotion,  or  outward  sign 
that  the  settlement  had  once  been  the  scene  of  his 
daily  life.  However,  as  he  had  served  me  very 
well,  apart  from  the  natural  laziness  of  his  kind, 
I  thought  I  mighb  do  him  a  good  turn  by  offering 
him  freedom  to  return  to  his  people. 

To  my  surprise  he  besought  me  to  tell  him  what 
wrong  he  had  done,  to  be  discharged  like  this.  I 
explained  that,  so  far  from  having  done  wrong,  he 
had  pleased  me  so  well  that  if  he  liked  he  might 
go  back  to  his  own  people.  He  looked  at  me  for 
a  moment  in  bewilderment ;  then  he  threw  up  his 
head  with  a  proud  gesture  and  w^alked  away,  thus 
intimating  that  he  had  not  a  very  high  opinion 
of  the  manner  in  which  I  proposed  to  reward 
faithful  service. 

I  called  him  back. 

''You  may  stay  if  you  like,"  I  said;  "  but  bear 
in  mind  that  you  may  go  if  you  like,  and  that  if 
you  don't  go  now  it  may  be  impossible  to  do  so 
later,  even  if  you  wish." 

"  But  I  don't  want  to  go,"  he  protested. 

I  accepted  this,  and  he  went  out. 

A  few  minutes  later  he  returned.  Evidently  he 
had  thought  me  angry  with  him,  and  it  puzzled 
him  to  fit  a  cause  for  this,  and  so,  in  default  of 
satisfactory  explanation,  he  thought  it  best  to 
propitiate  me. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


191 


''Til  tell  you  what  I'll  do,"  he  said.  ^'If  you 
will  lend  me  five  soldiers  I'll  place  two  there  and 
two  over  there  (indicating  positions),  and  I'll  go 
over  there  with  the  other.  Then  I'll  call  my 
father  and  mother  into  the  ring,  and  we  will 
capture  them  and  bring  them  to  you." 

I  think  he  was  disappointed  that  I  did  not 
accept  this  curious  proposition,  which  shed  a  clear 
light  on  his  ideas  of  the  fifth  commandment. 

While  I  was  staying  at  Nigangara  Station 
Du  Brency  came  in  to  spend  a  few  days.  He 
also  had  a  Pigmy  boy  in  his  service,  being  content 
like  myself  to  suffer  the  troubles  he  caused  for  the 
sake  of  having  such  a  good  servant.  But  two 
Pigmies  in  the  same  station  were  productive  of 
more  excitement  than  was  pleasant.  At  first  they 
regarded  one  another  somewhat  shyly,  not  to  say 
with  suspicion,  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
each  other.  From  severe  neutrality  it  came  to 
defensive  hostility,  and  before  long  to  open  war- 
fare. Both  were  vindictive  little  wretches,  never 
so  happy  as  when  quarrelling.  As  it  was  policy 
to  be  on  good  terms  with  the  soldiers  and  "food- 
servants,"  they  reserved  their  spite  for  their  own 
kind,  and  were  at  one  another's  throats  all  day 
long,  and  on  the  most  trivial  grounds.  One  would 
get  a  little  more  food  than  the  other  ;  there  would 
be  sufficient  reason  for  a  fight,  and  they  would 
race  each  other  in  bolting  their  bananas  in  order 


192 


iJdE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


to  get  in  the  first  blow  ;  but  fighting  was  always 
subservient  to  feeding.  When  they  had  battered 
each  other's  little  heads  with  their  puny  fists, 
a  Houssa,  or  perhaps  a  white  ofiicer,  w^ould  come 
out  to  see  what  the  din  was  about,  and  would 
separate  the  combatants. 

"Well,  why  should  he  have  more  food  than 
I  had?  "  would  be  the  proud  explanation.  "  After 
all  he's  only  a  Pigmy  !  "  This  with  great  scorn, 
and  the  necessary  vows  of  vengeance  from  the 
victim  of  outraged  dignity. 

They  had  no  objection  to  being  scolded  in 
genuine  anger,  and  took  a  rating  manfully  ;  but 
to  be  treated  as  children,  or,  worst  of  all,  to  be 
laughed  at,  was  more  than  they  would  stand. 

A  soldier  was  looking  on  amusedly  at  one  of 
their  mimic  battles  one  afternoon  in  the  drill-yard  ; 
the  cause  of  war  was  a  battered  helmet  that  one 
of  us  had  discarded.  My  Pigmy  had  it  on,  and 
was  defending  his  nine  points  of  the  law  against 
his  fellow  Pigmy.  The  soldier  made  a  jeering 
comment  on  my  boy,  who  left  his  own  quarrel  and 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  threw  half  a  brick 
at  the  head  of  the  soldier  with  all  the  force  of 
which  his  little  arm  and  big  rage  were  capable. 
It  would  have  hurt  the  Houssa  more  if  it  had  hit 
him  on  the  shins  ;  as  it  was  it  merely  stunned 
him.  Then  the  young  rascal  resumed  his  defence 
of  the  helmet. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


193 


One  of  the  most  astonishing  characteristics  of 
these  strange  httle  people  is  their  abnormal  appe- 
tite for  all  sorts  of  food.  Bananas  are  their  chief 
delight.  A  Pigmy,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying, 
eats  as  a  rule  twice  as  much  as  will  suffice  a  full- 


A  BAS-COXGO  CARRIER. 


grown  man.  He  will  take  a  stalk  containing 
about  sixty  bananas,  seat  himself  and  eat  them 
all  at  a  meal — besides  other  food.  Then  he  will 
lie  and  groan  throughout  the  night,  until  morning 
comes,  when  he  is  ready  to  repeat  the  operation 
A  consequent  and  characteristic  feature  of  his  race 

29 


194 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


is  the  distended  abdomen  ;  but,  that  considered, 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine  where  he  manages  to  stow 
the  enormous  quantity  of  food  he  can  consume  at 
a  meal.  Occasionally,  when  I  have  expressed  sur- 
prise— when,  for  instance,  he  has  surpassed  even 
himself — he  has  assumed  an  uninterested  air,  as 
though  the  matter  were  merely  the  most  common- 
place occurrence  in  the  world,  and  the  question 
one  to  be  waived. 

"Yes,"  he  has  said  carelessly;  ''there  were 
a  few  bananas  there  on  a  bunch,  and  I  ate  them. 
I  suppose  that  is  what  they  were  there  for. 
There's  nothing  to  be  surprised  about.  I  should 
like  some  more  if  there  are  any  to  be  had." 

As  they  have  no  cooking  utensils,  all  their  food 
is  roasted  or  smoked. 

The  Albino,  while  very  frequently  met  with 
among  the  Azande  and  one  or  two  other  tribes, 
is  very  rarely  seen  among  the  Pigmies.  I  have 
met  very  few  travellers  in  Central  Africa  who  have 
ever  seen  the  phenomenon  of  an  Albino  Pigmy,  and 
have  only  once  met  one  myself  during  the  whole 
period  of  my  travels  among  the  little  race.  This 
one  was  a  character  in  his  way.  He  was  dead- 
white,  without  a  vestige  of  colour  in  his  skin, 
about  four  feet  high  and  with  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  his  kind.  The  amusing  part  of  it  was 
that  he  insisted  on  claiming  kinship  with  the 
Mabode,  among  whom  he  lived.    Nothing  could 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


195 


convey  to  him  a  deeper  insult  than  to  say  that  he 
was  a  Pigmy  ;  he  romidly  denied  the  impeachment 
and  proceeded  to  avenge  the  stain  on  his  character 
with  truly  Pigmean  vengeance.  Ordinarily  he 
spoke  of  the  Pigmies  with  the  greatest  scorn  as 
a  race  far  inferior  to  the  Mabode,  to  whom  he 
belonged.  The  pity  was  that  his  upper  lip  over- 
hung to  an  unusual  degree,  so  that  my  friend  the 
Albino's  story  was  effectually  contradicted  by  his 
personal  appearance. 

The  Pigmies  have  a  curious  method  of  fighting 
which  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe  several 
times.  A  stranger  passing  through  the  bush 
along  a  track  is  fair  game  to  them,  and  they 
therefore  conceal  themselves  when  they  hear  foot- 
steps approaching.  It  does  not  take  much  covert 
to  hide  a  Pigmy.  As  the  unsuspecting  victim  goes 
by  they  send  their  little  arrows  at  him,  and,  if  the 
shot  has  told,  the  Pigmy  who  has  fired  jumps  up, 
utters  a  little  cry,  and  pats  his  right  arm  with  his 
left,  immediately  afterwards  diving  behind  a  bush 
plant  or  tree  trunk.  The  Pigmies  do  the  same 
when  they  are  fighting  against  numbers  in  regular 
bush  warfare. 

One  gentle  art  employed  against  the  stranger 
who  comes  by  their  way  is  amusing  in  its  display 
of  cunning.  The  Pigmy  fastens  a  cord  to  his  foot 
at  one  end,  affixing  the  other  to  the  bough  of 
a  tree  that  may  stretch  across  the  forest  path. 


196 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Then  concealing  himself  a  few  yards  off  he  waits 
till  he  hears  some  one  coming,  when  he  gently 
agitates  the  string  so  as  to  shake  the  bough. 
Now  the  least  thing  of  this  kind,  the  slightest 
rustle  or  noise  attracts  the  attention  of  the  native, 
who,  from  motives  of  self-preservation,  is  brought 
up  to  notice  all  the  signs  of  the  bush.  Accord- 
ingly he  stands  still  to  see  what  is  coming,  and 
while  he  watches  the  curiously  moving  branch,  is 
promptly  shot  in  the  back  by  the  concealed  Pigmy. 
"But,"  said  the  Pigmy,  when  rebuked  for  such 
treachery,  "  he  was  a  stranger.  He  had  no 
business  to  be  there."  It  is  the  old  story  of 
Leech's  over  again:  "A  stranger!  'Eave  'arf 
a  brick  at  'im !  " 

A  certain  chief  of  the  Momvus  was  literally 
a  ''big"  chief,  one  of  the  fattest  and  most 
umvieldy  of  men  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  see. 
So  corpulent  had  he  become  that  he  had  long- 
given  up  the  practice  of  walking,  always  allowing 
himself  to  be  carried  about  on  a  litter  borne  by 
four  of  his  men.  So  he  became  fatter  still.  His 
head  wife  was  a  massive  matron,  who  added 
to  her  corpulency  by  like  laziness. 

This  big  chief,  in  spite  of  his  inability  to  walk, 
insisted  on  accompanying  his  men  on  all  fighting- 
expeditions,  and  personally  directed  their  attacks 
from  the  elevation  of  his  stretcher.  On  a  certain 
occasion  I  have  in  my  mind  he  was  going  down 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


197 


with  his  warriors  to  fight  a  neighbouring  Mabode 
chief,  and  on  his  way  unwittingly  passed  close  to 
a  Pigmy  encampment  whose  inhabitants  he  had 
offended  some  time  before.  A  flight  of  little 
arrows  from  an  invisible  foe  was  the  first  intima- 
tion he  had  of  any  danger ;  he  could  not  get  down, 
nor  would  it  have  served  any  practical  purpose, 
because  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  run  away. 
So  he  dropped  back  from  his  sitting  posture  and 
turned  over  on  his  face,  calling  to  his  wife  to 
do  the  same,  as  he  urged  his  bearers  forward. 
Presently  a  Pigmy  darted  out  from  behind  a  tiny 
bush  and  shot  off  two  arrows  in  quick  succession, 
then  he  patted  his  right  arm  with  his  left  hand, 
uttered  the  peculiar  little  cry  that  signifies  gratifi- 
cation for  the  effect  of  the  shot,  and  disappeared 
again  behind  the  bush.  I  looked  and  saw  that 
both  the  chief  and  his  wife,  while  lying  face  down- 
ward on  their  litters,  had  been  shot  in  that  part 
which  thus  naturally  presented  itself  as  a  tempting- 
target. 

Where  one  of  their  number  dies  he  is  buried, 
and  there  is  an  end  to  him  and  his  memory.  They 
wear  no  mourning,  nor  do  they  erect  any  memorials 
over  the  graves  of  their  dead. 

Excellent  servants,  they  are  very  fond  of  decking 
themselves  out  in  the  old  clothes  of  their  masters, 
no  matter  what  the  fit  may  be.  They  will  strut 
about  with  an  old  hat,  several  sizes  too  large, 


198 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


coming  down  over  their  eyes,  or  augment  their 
scanty  costume  by  the  addition  of  a  tie,  not  in  fun, 
but  in  the  most  serious  manner  possible,  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  decorative  instinct  I 
observed. 

As  their  only  object  in  hunting  is  to  obtain  food, 
when  they  kill  an  elephant  they  consider  the  tusks 


BOY  AND  GIKL  WEAKING  METAL  BINGS. 

as  valueless,  and  do  not  even  trouble  to  take  them 
away. 

As  might  be  expected,  they  keep  no  domestic 
animals. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  say  anything  about  their 
language,  as  an  interpreter  is  rarely  met  with.  I 
trust  the  next  explorer  who  comes  across  them  will 
make  some  e:ffort  to  get  at  their  "  roots."  No 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


199 


doubt  there  are  latent  words  and  symbols  in  their 
utterances,  which  I  regret  to  say  I  had  not  time  to 
solve. 

In  the  South  they  are  called  the  Wombutti,  but 
are  the  same  people. 

They  keep  fire  alight  perpetually,  starting  it  in 
some  large  tree,  which  goes  on  smouldering  for 
months  at  a  time. 

So  much  for  my  friends  the  Pigmies,  who  on  the 
whole  live  decently  and  well  up  to  their  lights,  and 
are  in  many  ways  less  offensive  than  their  neigh- 
bours, though  they  may  seem  to  be  of  lower  grade. 


CHAPTEE  IX 


The  Abab^Ya  people — Fictitious  reports  had  reached  me  con- 
cerning them — The  reasons  for  this — The  middlemen — 
The  deference  paid  by  the  Ababwa  to  the  Azand^ — The 
country — Customs  of  the  Ababwa — Language — I  arrive  at 
Djabbir — An  expedition  against  the  murderers  of  Grahame 
— The  doctor — Wild  firing — Terror  of  the  doctor — Volleys 
heard — No  trace  of  the  other  column — Attacked  by  the 
Azand^ — The  men  demoralised — I  form  a  square — Azande 
driven  back — The  doctor's  idea  of  warfare — Deserted  by 
the  other  two  columns — We  return  to  the  station — The 
chief  Djabbir — The  corporal  promoted — News  of  Dhanis's 
disaster — Eecruiting — The  Mobanghi — Their  tribal  cus- 
toms— Make  the  best  soldiers— Frank  criticism — Hunters 
and  watermen— Eeadiug  the  river — The  mission  station 
at  Upoto — Arrival  at  Boma. 


OUTH  of  the  Welle  I  found  the  Ababwa, 


a  large  tribe  who  had  never  been  visited 


by  a  white  man  until  two  years  ago,  when 
a  traveller  passed  through  the  centre  of  their 
country  from  the  south-west,  and  found  them  a 
populous,  peaceful,  and  agricultural  people  ready 
to  make  him  in  every  way  w^elcome. 


200 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


201 


For  years  these  Ababwa  had  been  spoken  of  as  a 
race  of  savages  Hving  in  a  land  where  no  white  man 
could  penetrate.  The  Azande  chiefs,  who  held 
the  whole  length  of  the  river,  were  responsible 
for  these  sinister  rumours  and  false  reports,  and 
purposely  kept  them  afloat  for  their  own  ends, 
as  they  were  in  the  habit  of  purchasing  all  the 


VILLAGE   OF  KUNZL 


ivory  collected  by  the  Ababwa  at  an  absurdly 
cheap  rate,  and  selling  it  to  the  white  traders  at 
different  stations  in  the  neighbourhood  at  a  large 
profit,  so  that  they  held  entire  control  of  the 
ivory  market  in  that  district. 

At  the  same  time  they  were  careful  to  impress 
upon  the  Ababwa  chiefs  that  the  white  man  was 
a  living  terror,  and  that  any  Ababwa  who  should 

30 


202  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

venture  to  approach  a  white  man's  station  would 
undoubtedly  be  hanged,  and  that  all  his  followers 
would  be  made  slaves.  By  this  means  the  iVzande, 
as  middlemen,  controlled  the  ivory  market  to  his 
own  advantage.  So  great  was  the  dread  in  which 
the  Ababwa  held  the  Azande  that  they  never  once 
dared  either  to  come  themselves  to  a  white  settle- 
ment, or  to  send  a  messenger,  to  find  out  the  true 
state  of  the  facts. 

When  I  passed  through  their  country  a  big 
Ababwa  chief  came  to  see  me,  and  I  asked  him 
to  sit  down  in  a  chair — a  European  chair — to  him 
a  great  honour.  While  he  was  sitting  there  a 
small  Azande  chief  entered.  The  Ababwa  chief 
immediately  vacated  his  seat,  offering  it  to  the 
Azande  with  the  greatest  deference  and  humility, 
while  the  Azande  calmly  took  it  as  his  right. 
The  Ababwa  chief's  face  was  a  study  when  I 
kicked  the  Azande  out  of  the  chair,  and  told  my 
first  visitor  to  resume  his  seat,  as  he  was  a  much 
more  important  personage  than  the  petty  chief  to 
whom  he  had  given  up  that  symbol  of  sovereignty. 

As  a  race  the  x\babwa  are  tall,  well-set  up 
and  handsome.  They  are  strictly  sober,  though 
they  have  learnt  from  their  neighbours  to  make 
maize  beer ;  but  in  point  of  morality  they  are  lax, 
and  polygamy  is  an  established  custom. 

Their  land  is  rich  in  plantations  of  bananas 
and   grain,  and  rubber  vine,  kola,  and  various 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


203 


kinds  of  gum.  Their  chief  article  of  barter  is 
copper,  which  is  formed  into  bracelets  and  heavy 
rings.  Living  in  villages  surrounded  by  a  large 
stockade,  almost  hidden  in  the  bush,  they  handle 
with  dexterit}^  the  bow  and  arrow  and  the  long, 
narrow,  wooden  shield,  and  use  also  very  heavy 
shafted  spears,  and  knives  with  long  leaf -shaped 
blades. 

Akin  to  the  tribes  in  the  south-west,  on  the 
Itimbiri  or  Eubi,  these  Ababwa  speak  quite  a 
different  language  from  that  of  the  Mang-bettou  or 
Azande.  They  tattoo  themselves  across  their 
foreheads  with  many  little  lines  or  dots. 

On  my  arrival  at  the  Djabbir  station  on  the 
28th  of  January,  I  found  the  commandant  of  the 
district,  Mr.  Yerstraeten,  laid  up  from  the  results 
of  malaria,  and  scarcely  able  to  walk.  As  he  was 
extremely  anxious  to  go  down  country,  and  had  no 
one  to  whom  he  could  hand  over  command  of  the 
district,  he  persuaded  me  to  take  charge  of  it,  so 
that  he  might  return  to  Boma.  As  the  doctor 
whom  I  found  at  Djabbir  reported  favourably  upon 
the  state  of  my  health,  I  decided  to  remain. 

Mr.  Yerstraeten,  I  found,  had  just  arranged  a 
little  campaign  against  the  Zande  chief  Unguettra, 
the  murderer  in  January  1895  of  the  Englishman 
Grahame ;  and  as  everything  had  been  already 
organised,  I  had  only  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  my 
predecessor. 


204 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Had  I  known  as  much  as  I  learnt  afterwards,  I 
should  never  have  ventured  into  such  a  hornet's 
nest  with  the  soldiers  who  made  up  my  attacking 
force.  It  had  been  arranged  that  three  columns 
should  march  from  the  north,  w^est,  and  south, 
converging  upon  the  head  village  of  Unguettra. 
Mr.  Verstraeten's  design  was  that  the  three 
columns  should  reach  that  spot  almost  at  the 
same  moment.  Unfortunately  the  western  and 
southern  columns  did  not  put  in  an  appearance 
when  they  were  most  wanted,  but  of  that  more 
hereafter. 

Leaving  Djabbir  on  the  16th  of  February 
with  159  men,  with  Mr.  Sillye  and  the  doctor, 
the  latter  overflowing  with  martial  ardour,  I 
disembarked  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Welle, 
at  a  point  just  north  of  the  point  to  be  attacked. 
As  we  were  uncertain  of  the  whereabouts  of  Un- 
guettra, it  was  necessary  to  proceed  with  caution 
through  the  thick  forest.  Marching  all  night,  we 
arrived  next  morning  at  daybreak  at  a  small  village 
of  one  of  his  lesser  chiefs.  Here  we  were  obliged  to 
remain  a  whole  day,  for  the  men  were  too  fatigued 
to  march  further.  During  the  night  w^e  were 
aroused  by  the  sound  of  rapid  firing.  Hurrying 
from  the  hut  in  which  I  had  been  sleeping,  I  found 
one  face  of  our  square  firing  as  fast  as  the  men 
could  load,  straight  to  the  front. 

When  I  had  checked  the  fusillade,  I  found  upon 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


205 


inquiry  that  our  gallant  friend  the  doctor,  scorning 
anything  so  effeminate  as  a  night  under  cover,  had 
placed  his  chair  in  the  open  space  between  my  own 
and  Mr.  Sillye's  hut.  Here  he  composed  himself 
to  sleep,  evidently  forgetting  the  Azande  habit  of 
shooting  poisoned  arrows  into  the  camp  at  night. 
The  moon  being  about  full,  every  object  in  the 
square  was  distinctly  visible  to  any  one  concealed 
in  the  neighbouring  bush.  Evidently  a  body  of 
Azande  prowling  round  the  camp  had  noted  all  his 
movements,  and  when  once  he  had  settled  down 
comfortably,  they  began  to  shoot  at  him. 

The  doctor,  suddenly  aroused  to  a  sense  of  his 
danger  by  arrows  dropping  all  around  him,  had 
sprung  to  his  feet,  had  aroused  the  sleeping  men 
in  front  of  him  by  his  yells  of  terror,  and  had  given 
them  the  order  to  commence  firing.  The  men, 
suddenly  startled  from  their  sleep,  obeyed  the 
order  too  literally,  forgetting  at  the  moment  that 
our  sentries  had  been  posted  in  the  bush  to  their 
front.  The  doctor,  not  waiting  to  see  the  effect 
of  his  order,  had  taken  rapid  refuge  in  the  nearest 
hut.  By  marvellous  luck  the  sentries  had  not 
been  hit,  as  on  hearing  the  sound  of  the  first  shot 
they  had  fallen  flat  on  their  stomachs,  in  whicli 
position  they  remained  long  after  the  danger  had 
passed. 

On  the  following  day  we  continued  our  advance 
until  noon,  when,  hearing  the  sound  of  volleys 


206 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


which  we  knew  must  come  from  one  of  our  other 
columns,  we  halted  and  sent  out  patrols,  in  the 
attempt  to  get  into  touch  with  our  allies.  These 
scouts  returned  later  in  the  afternoon  without 
having  succeeded  in  their  quest. 

Starting  at  daybreak  next  morning,  we  continued 
our  march  through  the  forest,  and  at  about  eleven 
o'clock  the  advance  guard  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  a  strong  body  of  Azande.  At  the  same  time  we 
heard  the  report  of  rapid  and  evidently  uncontrolled 
firing  from  the  rear  guard,  where  the  martial  doctor 
was  in  charge.  After  my  former  experience  of  him 
I  left  him  to  his  own  devices,  and  went  forward  to 
support  the  advance  guard.  On  coming  up  with 
them  I  found  they  had  been  thrown  into  utter 
disorder  by  the  charge  of  the  enemy's  column.  To 
make  matters  worse  Mr.  S/illye  had  been  severely 
wounded  by  a  lance-thrust  in  the  leg — a  mischance 
which  completed  the  utter  demoralisation  of  his 
men.  Forming  a  square  as  nearly  as  was  possible 
in  the  thick  bush,  we  pushed  on  with  difficulty. 

Suddenly,  without  the  slightest  warning,  the 
Azande  returned  to  the  charge,  coming  up  to 
within  a  few  yards  of  our  square,  but  the  rifle 
fire  was  too  hot  for  them  to  face,  and  they  again 
retreated.  Beaten  in  their  attempts  to  repeat  the 
tactics  which  they  had  carried  out  successfully 
against  the  advance  guard,  they  presently  broke 
and  fled. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


207 


Shortly  afterwards  the  doctor  arrived  without 
his  men.  It  appeared  that  he  also  had  been  at- 
tacked by  a  small  body  of  Azande,  whose  intention 
had  been  loot.  On  my  asking  the  doctor  where 
his  men  and  baggage  were,  he  replied  that  he  did 
not  know,  asking  me  at  the  same  time  whether  it 
was  very  disgraceful  at  a  moment  of  sudden  risk 
to  hide  behind  a  tree  and  lie  flat  on  his  stomach. 
I  replied  that  this  was  merely  a  matter  of  taste 
and  opinion.  Sending  back  a  native  sergeant  and 
twenty  men  to  look  after  the  baggage  and  collect 
the  porters,  we  discovered  that  the  rear  guard, 
following  the  line  given  them  by  their  white  man, 
had  also  run  away,  throwing  their  loads  to  the 
ground. 

Having  collected  such  remnants  as  the  Azande 
had  not  had  time  to  carry  off  and  our  wounded,  we 
pushed  forward  until  we  reached  a  small  Azande 
village.  Here  we  halted,  to  enable  the  doctor 
to  attend  to  Sillye's  injuries  and  the  other 
wounded.  This,  however,  he  was  utterly  in- 
capable of  doing,  his  courage,  together  with  his 
martial  instincts,  having  apparently  disappeared 
with  the  baggage. 

After  a  halt  of  about  three  and  a  half  hours, 
receiving  no  news  of  the  other  two  columns,  and 
encumbered  with  one  wounded  white  man  who  was 
unable  to  walk,  and  some  twenty-five  wounded 
soldiers,  most  of  whom  also  had  to  be  carried, 


208 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


we  moved  in  a  southerly  direction,  trying  to 
communicate  with  the  column  of  whose  where- 
abouts w^e  had  some  rough  idea  from  the  firing 
heard  on  the  previous  day.  After  three  hours' 
march,  finding  no  traces  of  their  passage,  and 
hearing?  nothino^  further  to  indicate  their  where- 

o  o 

abouts,  we  turned  to  the  west,  hoping  to  fall  in 


DANCING-WOMAN  AND  ATTENDANTS. 


with  them.  Being  without  food,  as  well  as 
hampered  by  the  wounded,  advance  was  out  of 
the  question,  and  we  were  obliged  to  make  our 
way  through  the  forest  by  the  aid  of  the  compass 
to  the  nearest  post,  from  whence  the  western 
column  had  set  out. 

After  two  days'  march  through  the  forest  we 
arrived  at  the  station,  to  find  that  the  second 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


209 


column  had  already  returned,  the  two  officers 
in  charge  calmly  stating  that  they  had  heard 
one  column  had  been  engaged,  from  which  they 
took  occasion  to  infer  that  their  prompt  retirement 
was  necessary,  instead  of  advancing  to  the  support 
of  their  comrades.  The  third  column  had  not  put 
in  an  appearance  at  all,  its  commander  giving 


A  DANCING-WOMAN. 


various  and  apparently  very  good  reasons  for  its 
absence. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  aid  I  received  from  Mr. 
Sillye,  badly  wounded  though  he  was,  I  shudder  to 
think  of  the  fate  that  might  have  overtaken  our 
little  company.  How^ever,  in  spite  of  want  of  food 
and  bad  roads,  we  managed  to  bring  in  all  our 
wounded.    Shortly  afterwards  Unguettra,  who  had 

31 


210  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 

lost  heavily  in  the  engagement,  sent  in  messengers 
to  arrange  terms  of  peace,  and  before  long  I  found 
that  five  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been  following  the 
doctor  had  already  come  in  to  the  station. 

Djabbir,  the  chief  of  the  Abmidja  Azande,  is 
a  man  of  considerable  intelligence,  and  with  some 
knowledge  of  the  ways  of  civilised  people.  In  his 
youth  he  had  been  at  Khartoum,  where  he  had 
served  under  Gordon.  Eeturning  from  Khartoum 
by  way  of  the  Bahr-el-Gazelle,  he,  with  the  aid 
of  his  brothers,  made  himself  master  of  the  terri- 
tory which  he  at  present  rules,  subduing  the 
original  inhabitants,  the  Mobanghi,  who  now  form 
the  greater  part  of  his  people.  Since  1891, 
from  w^hich  year  his  first  acquaintance  with  the 
State  officials  dates,  he  has  always  proved  himself 
a  good  friend  and  firm  ally  of  the  Congo  Free 
State.  His  importance  may  be  gauged  by  the 
fact  that  he  himself  sells  on  an  average  about 
a  ton  and  a  half  of  ivory  per  month  to  the  head- 
man of  the  station.  More  civilised  than  his  brother 
chiefs,  he  is  accustomed  to  use  many  of  the  con- 
veniences of  European  refinement. 

As  an  honorary  captain  -  commandant  in  the 
State  service,  he  dons  the  uniform  belonging  to 
that  rank  on  all  State  occasions.  I  have  already 
recorded  my  introduction  to  him  in  the  mess-room 
of  the  station  when  thus  arrayed  in  European 
dress.    He   knows  how  to   conduct   himself  in 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


211 


polite  society,  and,  unlike  other  natives,  he  is 
not  addicted  to  lying.  When  he  says  he  will 
do  a  thing  he  does  it,  and  when  he  tells  you  he 
cannot,  you  know  it  is  out  of  his  power. 

It  was  at  Djabbir's  station  that  I  again  met  the 
corporal  who  had  so  efficiently  assisted  me  in  my 
journey  from  Yakoma  in  1894.  I  was  glad  to  see 
he  had  received  the  promotion  he  certainly  merited, 
and  was  acting  in  a  confidential  position  under 
Djabbir.* 

At  this  time  I  received  the  first  news  of  the 
revolt  of  Baron  Dhanis's  advance  guard.  At  once 
the  whole  of  our  efforts  were  directed  to  obtaining 
recruits  to  be  sent  down  to  Stanley  Falls, who  should 
fill  up  the  gaps  made  by  the  mutiny  of  the  Batatela. 
As  recruiting  in  these  districts  had  become  popular 
among  the  natives,  we  experienced  very  little  diffi- 
culty in  finding  our  complement  of  five  hundred 
men  within  a  month  of  receiving  a  request  for 
their  enrolment.  In  the  meantime  I  had  been 
to  Ibembo  on  the  Rubi,  to  superintend  the  de- 
parture of  troops  down  the  river. 

The  Mobanghi,  whom  Djabbir  had  reduced  to 
submission  on  his  return  from  Khartoum,  are  a 
fighting  race,  and  make  the  best  soldiers  on  the 
Upper  Welle. 

*  It  will  be  noticed  that  an  African  station  is  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  the  district  chief,  so  that  the  same 
word  is  used  indifferently  for  the  man  or  place. 


212 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


They  live  in  small  huts  and  scattered  villages, 
hating  their  conquerors  with  an  undying  hate, 
and  ever  ready  to  fight  against  them  on  behalf 
of  the  white  man.  The  river-end  portion  of  this 
tribe  wear  a  tattoo  mark  vertically  down  the  centre 
of  the  face.  Those  of  the  interior  wear  the  mark 
across  their  foreheads.    They  are  extremely  good- 


^1 


FUNERAL  DANCE,  BOPOTO. 


tempered,  faithful,  and  honest  to  those  with  whom 
they  are  dealing,  but  they  will  steal  from  others, 
and  are  inveterate  cannibals. 

Great  hunters,  they  will  creep  up  to  an  elephant 
until  they  are  close  enough  to  put  a  gun  within  a 
foot  or  two  of  his  ribs.  Their  weapons  of  war  are 
the  shield  and  lance  ;  they  do  not  use  the  bow  and 
arrow  except  as  a  toy  for  children. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


213 


A  very  hardy  race,  they  will  go  for  seven  days 
without  food  when  on  the  march.  Not  shy,  but  of 
a  very  frank,  open  disposition,  the  Mobanghi  never 
bear  malice ;  once  corrected  for  a  fault,  it  is  all 
over  and  done  with,  the  offence  and  its  punishment 
being  alike  forgotten. 

Their  burial  customs  are  peculiar.   When  a  man 


FUNERAL  DANCE,  BOPOTO. 


dies  in  war  all  his  tribesmen  who  are  present  will 
attend  his  funeral.  The  body  is  sewn  up  in  a  piece 
of  bark  cloth,  and  a  long  piece  of  grass,  or  cane,  or 
string  is  attached  to  the  little  finger  of  the  left 
hand.  The  grave  is  then  filled  in,  the  string  being 
brought  up  through  the  earth  to  the  surface.  The 
mourners  form  a  ring  hand-in-hand,  one  of  them 


214 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


holding  this  string.  A  funeral  oration  is  made, 
bidding  farewell  to  the  deceased,  to  whom  they 
talk  as  though  he  w-ere  still  living.  Then  they 
move  and  turn  together,  still  holding  hands,  the 
man  who  has  the  string  swinging  it  as  they  circle 
round  and  round. 

The  only  reason  given  to  me  for  this  mystic 
piece  of  string  was  that  the  spirit  of  the  dead  man 
should  be  able  to  shoot  straight  w^here  he  was 
going,  and  should  be  able  to  find  food  for  himself, 
by  thus  keeping  some  sort  of  touch  with  the  upper 
air. 

They  are  extremely  fond  of  dancing.  Their 
capers  differ  from  those  of  the  Mang-bettou  or 
the  Azande  in  that  they  are  much  more  lively. 
Singing  while  they  dance,  and  making  up  their 
songs  as  they  move,  generally  upon  topical  subjects, 
tney  laugh  and  are  merry  at  such  times,  and  are 
never  so  serious  as  other  tribes. 

Always  in  hopes  of  throwing  off  the  Azande  yoke, 
and  again  establishing  the  old  Mobanghi  kingdom, 
these  natives  are  perfectly  fearless ;  and  enlisted  in 
the  white  service,  fitted  out  wdth  rifle  and  uniform, 
they  will  go  anywhere,  looking  down  upon  all  other 
Africans.  They  never  lose  an  opportunity  of  killing 
an  Azande,  and  when  sent  ofl  to  arrest  one  will  be 
certain  to  shoot  him,  if  they  can  only  manage  it 
without  the  knowledge  of  their  officers. 

Here  is  an  illustration  of  their  frankness.  A 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


215 


white  man  one  evening  had  been  talking  to  the 
Mobanghi  around  him,  trying  his  best  to  explain 
the  steam-engine  and  steam-ship  to  them.  He 
drew  pictures  on  the  sand  to  illustrate  what  he 
said;  they  listened  with  intense  interest  as  he  went 
on.  At  last,  tired  of  talking,  he  ceased  explaining, 
and  asked  them  if  they  had  understood.  "Yes, 
they  thought  they  had."  There  was  deep  silence 
for  sometime,  and  then  a  voice  in  the  centre  of 
the  crowd  expressed  the  unspoken  sentiments  of 
the  whole  assembly  in  one  emphatic  word,  uttered 
in  a  tone  of  the  deepest  conviction — "  Liar  !  " 

These  people  hunt  both  the  hippopotamus  and 
the  elephant  with  success.  They  pursue  the 
former  in  canoes,  attacking  them  with  lances. 
As  soon  as  the  animal  turns  upon  them  they  dive 
under  water,  being  excellent  swimmers.  When, 
wounded  with  half  a  dozen  spear  thrusts,  the 
hippopotamus  is  getting  weak,  a  man  will  catch 
it  by  the  tail,  and  while  its  attention  is  attracted 
in  front  by  the  movements  of  the  canoes,  he  will 
kill  it  by  stabbing  it  in  the  ribs  with  a  big  knife. 
The  riverside  Mobanghi  is  an  excellent  waterman. 

The  paddles  of  a  native  canoe  on  the  Welle  are 
small  and  short,  fashioned  like  a  leaf-shaped  spear- 
head, and  not  more  than  four  feet  long.  The 
paddleman  uses  them  sitting  on  the  edge  of 
the  dug  -  out,  facing  forward,  and  without  a 
tholepin.    On  the  Congo  the  paddle  is  seven  or 


216 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


eight  feet  long,  and  is  used  standing  up.  The 
boat  in  both  cases  is  steered  with  a  paddle  by  one 
man  sitting  right  at  the  stern. 

Native  riverside  men  are  wonderfully  clever 
pilots,  even  on  streams  where  they  have  never 
been  before.  What  appears  to  be  their  intuition 
or  instinct  is  really  due  to  close  observation.  By 
a  ripple  on  the  surface  the  native  steersman  will 
locate  the  safe  course  for  a  boat  in  an  intricate 


A  MISSION  CANOE. 


passage,  and  many  other  signs  of  nature  are 
at  hand  to  help  him  in  his  craft.  He  reads  the 
river  as  we  read  a  book,  and  is  as  keen  and  quick 
as  a  Mississippi  pilot  on  the  look-out  for  "  snags." 

On  the  5th  of  May  I  was  again  attacked  by 
fever,  and  becoming  convalescent  on  the  7th  of 
July  I  left  by  the  steamer  Florida  to  return  to 
Stanley  Pool,  my  three  years'  agreement  with  the 
State  having  expired.    On  my  way  down  to  the 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


217 


coast  I  visited  the  mission  station  at  Upoto,  but 
was  disappointed  to  find  that  the  Rev.  WilHam 
Forfeit  had  gone  home  on  leave.  However,  his 
locum-teiiens^  Mr.  Smith,  who  had  not  been  long- 
in  Africa,  received  me  with  open  hospitality,  such 
as  is  only  known  in  countries  where  the  passage 
of  a  white  man  through  a  lonely  station  is  a  great 
event  in  the  life  of  those  settled  there. 

Touching  at  different  stations  on  my  way 
down,  I  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  boys' 
colony  at  Nouvelle  Anvers,  a  settlement  under 
Roman  Catholic  direction,  where  some  five 
hundred  boys  of  all  ages  are  educated  and  taught 
a  trade.  Their  training  is  carried  on  under  a 
system  of  military  discipline  ;  I  saw  them  on 
parade  one  morning,  being  put  through  their  drill 
exercise,  and  the  way  in  which  they  went  through 
their  facings  did  great  credit  to  their  instructors 
and  to  themselves. 

Leaving  Bangala,  I  was  attacked  by  dysentery, 
the  discomforts  of  which  were  increased  by  my 
confinement  to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  small  and 
overcrowded  steamer.  At  Bolobo  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Grenfell,  one  of  the  oldest  missionaries  on  the 
Congo,  with  Mr.  Clarke,  whom  I  had  met  at 
Lukolela  three  years  previously,  came  on  board 
to  see  me. 

Reaching  Stanley  Pool  on  the  21st,  after  a  delay 
of  five  days,  occasioned  by  our  having  to  wait  for 

32 


218 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


carriers,  we  started  down  the  caravan  road  to 
reach  the  then  terminus  of  the  railway,  which 
was  open  as  far  as  Inkissi  Eiver.  On  my  arrival 
at  Boma,  Mr.  Underwood,  Acting  British  Yice- 
Consul,  hearing  of  my  arrival,  insisted  that  I 
should  be  his  guest  while  I  remained  there,  and 
would  take  no  denial.  His  solicitude  for  my  com- 
fort was  only  equalled  by  his  personal  kindness, 
for  which  I  would  here  pay  a  tribute  of  most 
grateful  thanks. 


BAN  GALA  NATIVE   SMOKING  HEMP, 


CHAPTEE  X 


The  Government  of  the  Congo  Free  State — Local  Administra- 
tion at  Boma — The  Consultative  Committee — The  State 
Officers  —  Districts  and  their  commissioners  —  Native 
Headships  —  Department  of  Justice  —  Coinage  —  War 
Office — Native  Service — Eegulations  the  same  as  in  the 
Belgian  Army — The  medical  service — Powers  of  the  State 
medical  officers — The  Eed  Cross  Society — The  Missions — 
The  Scheut  Fathers — Missionary  newspapers — Methods 
of  the  workers — Probationary  period — Protestant  Missions 
wealthier  than  the  Eoman  Catholic — English  taught  to 
the  natives — Publication  of  native  grammars. 


0  far  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe  as  fully 


observations  in  Equatorial  Africa,  hoping 
to  interest  my  readers  in  those  outlandish  places 
and  strange  races  by  depicting,  with  a  free  use 
of  local  colour,  some  of  the  most  remarkable  scenes 
and  scenery  of  so-called  savage  life. 

We  find  in  these  remote  regions  native  warriors 
loyal  to  their  chiefs,  cannibals  far  less  cruel  than 
the   name   suggests,   Pigmies   who   are  mighty 


as   possible   my   personal   experiences  and 


219 


220 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


hunters,  and  honest  according  to  their  lights; 
while  danger  as  a  rule  is  disregarded,  and  the 
unwritten  laws  of  hospitality  are  in  full  force 
among  the  aborigines. 

We  move,  in  short,  in  a  land  of  w^onders,  and 
it  is  but  natural  that  w^e  should  desire  some  know^- 
ledge  of  its  present  connection  with  the  white 
man,  into  w^hose  control  the  country  of  the  Congo 
and  its  people  have  passed.  Let  me,  then,  supple- 
ment my  story  wdth  a  few  statistics  which  may  be 
relied  upon  as  authentic. 

In  close  connection  with  the  Central  Govern- 
ment, which  has  its  seat  at  Brussels,  and  acting 
under  its  orders,  is  the  Local  Government,  whose 
administrative  centre  is  at  Boma.  At  the  head 
of  this  is  the  Governor- General,  who  represents 
the  sovereign  authority  within  the  State,  and  is 
charged  with  the  execution  of  such  measures  as 
are  decreed  by  the  Central  Authority. 

The  Governor-General  is  assisted  by  a  Deputy- 
Governor-General,  a  State  Inspector,  a  Secretary- 
General,  and  one  or  more  directors.  These, 
together  with  the  Judge  of  Appeal,  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Landed  Estates,  and  a  certain  number 
of  members,  not  exceeding  five,  form  a  Committee, 
whose  opinion  is  taken  by  the  Governor- General 
on  all  matters  of  public  interest  which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  introduce,  or  adopt,  or  to  lay  before  the 
Central  Government. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


221 


The  Governor-General  resides  at  Boma.  In 
case  of  his  absence  or  indisposition,  he  is  replaced 
by  the  Deputy-Governor,  the  State  Inspector,  or 
a  locmn-tenens  appointed  by  the  Sovereign  ;  or  in 
a  case  where  no  locum-tenens  has  been  appointed, 
the  functions  of  a  Governor-General  are  exercised 
by  an  Executive  Committee,  consisting  of  the 
Secretary-General,  the  directors,  the  Head  of  the 
War  Office,  and  members  elected  by  the  Sovereign. 

The  various  Government  ofiices  are  : — 

1.  The  Department  of  Justice. 

2.  The  Department  of  Roads,  Marine,  and  Public 
Works. 

3.  The  Commissariat  Department,  for  the  veri- 
fication of  accounts,  the  administrative  control  of 
stores,  &c. 

4.  The  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Industry. 

5.  The  Department  of  Defensive  Works. 

6.  The  War  Office. 

7.  The  Department  of  Finance. 

The  territory  is  divided  into  districts,  each 
under  a  commissioner ;  some  of  the  outlying 
districts  are  subdivided  into  zones,  under  heads 
of  zones,  who  in  certain  cases  report  directly  to 
the  Governor,  but  send  duplicates  of  their  corre- 
spondence to  the  district  commissioners,  under 
whose  authority  they  remain. 


222 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


The  decree  of  the  6th  of  October  1891,  recog- 
nised the  vahdity  of  the  native  chieftainships, 
placed  under  the  control  of  the  district  commis- 
sioners or  their  delegates.  Certain  of  these  chiefs 
have  residents  appointed  to  them,  invested  with 
diplomatic  powers. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  1896  the  white 
population  numbered  1,325,  including  839  Belgians, 
88  English,  83  Portuguese,  79  Scandinavians,  49 
Italians,  45  Americans,  42  French,  39  Dutch,  21 
Germans,  12  Danes,  3  Swiss,  2  Austrians,  2 
Spaniards,  and  21  persons  of  other  nationalities. 

Candidates  for  the  Civil  Service  are  nominated 
either  by  the  Sovereign,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
or  the  Governor-General,  after  a  medical  examina- 
tion by  Government  physicians. 

In  connection  with  the  Congo  Free  State, 
various  medals  and  decorations  have  been  issued 
for  services  rendered  both  in  Africa  and  in  Europe. 

The  Department  of  Justice  consists  of  a  Court  of 
First  Instance,  with  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  of 
the  Lower  Congo.  Crimes  committed  in  the 
Upper  Congo  by  Europeans  of  a  nature  punishable 
with  death  are  also  brought  before  this  tribunal. 
The  Court  of  Appeal  sits  at  Boma ;  and  besides 
these  there  are  a  number  of  territorial  or  district 
tribunals.  Over  all  is  the  Supreme  Council, 
sitting  at  Brussels. 

The  coinage  is  similar  to  the  Belgian,  with  this 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


223 


exception,  that  the  bronze  coins,  pieces  of  ten,  five, 
two,  and  one  centimes,  are  pierced  in  the  centre, 
to  facihtate  their  transport  by  the  natives,  to  whom 
pockets  are  unknown.  The  postal  service  is  similar 
to  our  own,  the  Congo  State  forming  part  of  the 
Universal  Postal  Union. 

The  War  Office  controls  the  army,  which  is 
now  a  purely  national  one.    At  first  the  Grovern- 
ment  were  obliged  to  recruit  black  troops  outside 
the  limits  of  the  State,  from  Zanzibar,  Lagos, 
Sierra  Leone,  Accra,  Elmina,  &c.    These  were 
generally  enlisted  for  three  years,  and  were  paid 
a  franc  and  a  quarter  a  day,  in  addition  to  their 
food,  medical  treatment,  and  free  journeys  to  and 
from  their  homes.    A  Eoyal  decree  of  the  30th  of 
July,  1891,  determined  that  the  national  army 
should  be  recruited,  apart  from  volunteered  ser- 
vices, by  annual  levies,  within  the  limits  fixed  by 
the  Sovereign;  the  Governor-General  marks  out 
the  districts  where  the  levy  shall  be  made,  as  well 
as  the  proportion  of  men  to  be  furnished  by  each 
locality,  while  details  are  arranged  by  the  district 
commissioner,  in  consultation  with  native  chiefs. 

The  time  of  active  service  is  five  years,  and  for 
two  years  more  the  men  are  in  the  reserve.  Their 
equipment  and  keep  is  provided  by  the  State  ;  the 
pay  is  twenty-one  centimes  a  day,  and  besides 
this  the  married  men  receive  food  rations  for  their 
wives.    At  the  end  of  their  time  of  service  the 


224 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


men  and  their  families  are  entitled  to  be  sent  home 
at  the  cost  of  the  State,  and  receive  special  pro- 
tection from  the  authorities. 

The  Yolmiteers  recruited  in  each  district  for  a 
term  of  less  than  four  years  are  at  once  attached 
to  the  company  in  garrison  in  their  particular 
district,  except  when  the  Governor-G-eneral  directs 


CONGO  HUT. 


otherwise.  Eecruits  enrolled  in  accordance  with 
the  decree  of  1891,  as  well  as  volunteers  enlisted 
for  more  than  four  years,  are  sent  into  camps  for 
instruction,  where  they  are  drilled  before  being 
added  to  the  strength  of  the  existing  companies. 
These  camps  are  controlled  by  an  officer  appointed 
by  the  Grovernment  to  inspect  them. 

The  regulations  in  the  drilling  of  the  Congo 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  225 

troops  are  the  same  as  those  prevaiHng  in  the 
Belgian  army.  The  word  of  command  is  given 
in  French.  Special  attention  is  devoted  to  rifle 
practice,  and  prizes  are  given  for  proficiency  in 
target-shooting.  The  Albini  rifle  and  its  short 
bayonet  are  in  use  among  the  black  soldiers ;  a 
certain  number  of  the  1889  Mauser  rifles  have 
been  allotted  to  the  Europeans. 

Soldiers  build  their  own  huts.  In  many  places 
these  are  now  made  of  brick,  instead  of  mud  as 
w^as  formerly  the  case.  The  married  men  occupy 
special  quarters. 

The  mess  system  was  tried  among  the  troops 
of  the  Congo  Free  State,  but  experience  proved 
it  to  be  unpractical.  The  black  soldier  prefers  to 
cook  his  own  food,  or  to  have  it  cooked  by  his 
wife  if  he  is  married  ;  so  that  the  system  of 
supplying  the  men  with  their  rations  separately 
has  now  become  general. 

Lately  military  bands  have  been  introduced,  and 
the  natives  have  displayed  considerable  proficiency 
upon  brass  instruments,  fife,  flute,  and  drum. 

The  medical  service  has  been  reorganised. 
Doctors  of  the  second  class  now  rank  as  lieu- 
tenants, and  doctors  of  the  first  class  as  captains. 
The  State  medical  officers  have  to  give  their 
services  without  fee  to  the  officials  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  to  natives.  To  private  individuals,  and 
to  Europeans  foreign  to  the  administration,  the 

33 


226 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


charge  is  one  pound  sterling  a  visit,  this  being  the 
fee  that  rules  throughout  the  West  Coast  of  Africa. 

There  are  now  fourteen  doctors  in  the  Govern- 
ment service,  and  besides  these,  the  railway  has 
its  own  medical  staff.  The  Government  medical 
officers  have  very  considerable  powers.  There  is 
no  limit  to  the  quantity  of  drugs  which  they  are 
allowed  to  order  from  Brussels ;  they  practice  with 


DISPENSARY  AT  BOMA. 


complete  liberty  upon  their  own  responsibility,  and 
are  quite  independent  of  the  station  or  district 
commissioner,  except  from  a  disciplinary  or  depart- 
mental point  of  view.  Moreover,  the  doctor  is  the 
final  judge  for  exemption  from  service  or  furlough ; 
and  he  alone  decides  whether  an  official  is  to  be 
sent  to  the  coast  to  recruit  his  health. 

In  addition  to  drugs  and  medical  stores,  every 
doctor  has  at   his  disposal  a   certain  quantity 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


227 


of  claret,  port,  madeira,  champagne,  preserves, 
biscuits,  essence  of  beef,  arrowroot,  &c.,  which  he 
distributes  among  the  sick  according  to  their  needs. 
These  provisions  are  known  in  the  Congo  by  the 
name  of  ''medical  comforts."  Except  at  Boma, 
which  maintains  a  pharmacy  with  a  properly 
qualified  chemist,  the  doctors  are  also  dispensers. 

The  Society  of  the  Congo  Eed  Cross  was  founded 
in  January  1889,  for*  the  relief  of  the  sick  and 
wounded,  both  European  and  native,  in  times  of 
peace  and  war.  It  has  four  bungalows  at  Boma, 
very  comfortably  furnished  and  fitted  up,  and 
others  are  being  prepared  at  various  stations. 
These  bungalows,  which  have  a  very  neat  and  home- 
like appearance,  are  fitted  for  two  persons,  and  each 
contains  two  rooms.  At  Boma  there  is  also  a 
military  hospital,  resembling  in  every  respect  the 
most  modern  and  best  appointed  sanitary  institu- 
tions in  Europe. 

The  first  Belgian  Eoman  Catholic  Mission  dates 
from  the  end  of  1888.  At  present  a  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  missionaries  of  both  sexes  are  preach- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  blacks.  At  the  head  of  these 
are  two  bishops,  one  of  whom  acts  as  vicar-apostolic. 
These  missionaries,  at  the  low^est  computation, 
minister  to  fifty  thousand  neophytes,  catechumens, 
and  aspirants,  in  at  least  sixteen  villages  formed 
entirely  of  Christians.  There  are  nearly  forty 
schools,  in  addition  to  an  orphanage,  where  more 


228 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


than  five  thousand  children  receive  a  technical 
education. 

The  Scheut  Fathers  have  a  steamer,  the  Notre 
Dame  du  Perpetiiel  8ecoiirs^  which  serves  their 
missions  on  the  upper  river ;  while  the  Tanganika 
Fathers  own  two  sailing  vessels. 

Each  congregation  possesses  and  publishes  a 
review  in  which  the  letters  and  reports  of  the 
missionaries  are  printed.  The  periodical  of  the 
Jesuit  Fathers,  the  Fregis  Historiques,  has  been 
some  time  in  existence,  having  been  founded  some 
forty  years  ago  by  the  Bollandists.  It  issues  an 
edition  in  Flemish  under  the  title  of  Congo-Indie, 
which  is  published  at  Louvain.  The  Scheut 
Fathers  own  the  Missions  en  Chine  et  au  Congo, 
published  in  Flemish  and  French  ;  the  Mechlin 
White  Friars  have  their  Missions  d'Afrique,  also 
published  in  both  languages  ;  the  Trappists  have 
the  Messager.  The  Missions  and  the  Fregis  also 
publish  letters  from  the  Sisters. 

The  missionaries'  first  work  is  to  instil  a  love  of 
labour  into  the  negroes,  for  they  very  properly 
maintain  that  work  imparts  a  humanising  influence 
essential  to  Christianity.  The  natives  thus  acquire 
some  sense  of  human  dignity  and  responsibility, 
and  when  by  this  means  they  have  been  made 
ashamed  of  their  former  idleness,  savagery,  and 
ignorance,  and  their  understanding  opens,  the 
first  seeds  of  religion  are  ready  to  be  sown. 


TYPE  OF  NATIVE. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


231 


The  State  hands  over  to  the  missionaries  large 
numbers  of  abandoned  and  vagabond  children  and 
others  rescued  from  slavery,  who  are  all  sent  to 
technical  schools.  Natives  who  are  Christians 
generally  marry  and  settle  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  missions,  thus  forming  the  nucleus  of  some 
exclusively  Christian  villages.    The  future  of  the 


A  CORNER  OF  THE   STATION  OF  NOUVELLE  ANVERS. 


Congo  missions  really  lies  in  the  education  of  the 
young  natives;  it  is  these,  the  missionaries  say, 
who  will  regenerate  Central  Africa.  The  adult 
black  is  very  difficult  to  convert.  The  animal, 
bestial  nature  of  his  fetichism  appeals  to  him  in 
the  highest  degree  ;  and  above  all  he  cannot  be 
brought    to    admit    the    truth   of  monogamous 


232 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


principles.  His  womankind,  kept  in  a  subject 
condition  as  instruments  of  pleasure  and  toil, 
represent  to  him  a  source  of  work  and  conse- 
quent profit,  so  that  to  renounce  his  right  of 
ownership  in  them  all  seems  to  him  equivalent 
to  ruin. 

Those  who  are  converted  are  carefully  watched, 
and  kept  closely  in  hand,  by  their  spiritual  fathers, 
who  only  admit  adults  among  their  neophytes 
after  extreme  precautions.  They  haA^e  to  undergo 
a  probationary  period  of  not  less  than  four  years, 
and,  like  the  catechumens  of  the  first  centuries  of 
the  Church,  they  are  not  allowed  to  enter  the 
chapel  during  this  preliminary  term ;  they  may 
only  kneel  down  outside  during  Mass,  and  are 
entrusted  to  catechists,  who  instruct  them  inces- 
santly. Above  all,  they  are  not  permitted  to  be 
idle. 

The  aim  of  the  missionaries  is  not  to  turn  these 
negroes  into  imitation  white  men,  but  into  native 
Christians.  They  are  not  loaded  with  over-much 
learning,  but  are  brought  up  to  a  trade,  and  are 
able  just  to  read  and  write.  Married  couples  are 
taught  agriculture,  but  it  is  hard  work  to  induce 
the  man  to  till  the  soil,  imbued  as  he  is  with 
the  traditional  sentiment  which  prescribes  that 
all  the  hard  work  of  his  tribe  shall  be  done  by 
women. 

The  first  Protestant  Mission  was  established  in 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


235 


1877  by  English  Baptists.  Two  years  later  the 
Livingstone  Inland  Mission  took  root,  and  these 
were  followed  by  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
which  had  two  stations  on  the  Tanganika,  now 
transferred  to  British  territory.  Afterwards  came 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  Mission  (1881)  ;  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  (1883) ;  Bishop 
Taylor's  Self-supporting  Mission  (1886) ;  the  Congo 
Balolo  Mission  (1889)  ;  the  International  Mis- 
sionary Alliance  (1889)  ;  the  American  Southern 
Presbyterian  Mission  ;  Arnot's  Scotch  Presbyterian 
Mission  (1891) ;  and  the  Seventh-Day  Baptists 
(1893). 

In  all,  the  Protestant  Missions  occupy  fifty-six 
stations,  served  by  two  hundred  and  twenty-one 
persons  of  both  sexes.  Their  means  are  far  greater 
than  those  of  the  Koman  Catholic  establishments. 
Dr.  Guinness's  little  Congo  Mission  at  Balolo  alone 
has  an  income  of  i£10,644  per  annum,  and  supports 
thirty-one  missionaries. 

These  Protestant  missionaries  teach  their  people 
to  read  and  write,  and  have  established  a  printing 
press,  which  publishes  a  newspaper  in  the  Congo 
language.  A  few  of  the  schools  now  teach  French, 
but  the  only  European  language  generally  taught 
is  English,  not  one  of  the  Protestant  Missions 
being  of  Belgian  origin.  The  Protestant  Missions 
have  three  steamers — the  Goodivill,  belonging  to 
English  Baptists;  the  Henry  Beed,  the  property 


236 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


of  American  Baptists  ;  and  the  Pioneer^  belonging 
to  the  Congo  Balolo  Mission. 

The  missionaries  apply  themselves  zealously  to 
the  study  of  native  languages,  and  have  published 
a  number  of  Congolese  grammars. 


MISSION  OF  EREBU. 


CHAPTEE  XI 


The  geology  of  the  Congo — Prehistoric  axe-heads — Fauna — 
The  gorilla  and  the  chimpanzee — African  elephant — 
State  decrees  regarding  elephant-shooting — The  tusks — 
Khinoceros — Birds  of  prey — Eeptiles — Domestic  animals 
— Fish — Methods  of  the  natives  in  catching  fish — Flora 
— Equatorial  vegetation — The  banana — Manioc  introduced 
from  America — Other  edible  vegetables — Tinctorial  plants 
—  Eubber — Textile  plants  —  Cocoa-trees  —  A  relic  of 
Stanley's  experiments — Tobacco,  and  smoking  customs — 
Barter.  , 

Ml  HE  geology  of  the   Congo   is   not  without 


interest.     Its  chief  metals,  found  on  the 


surface,  are  lead,  zinc,  mercury,  platinum, 
iron,  including  many  ferruginous  minerals,  and 
sometimes  gold.  Of  the  last  it  is  said  with  truth 
that  this  has  not  yet  been  found  with  absolute 
certainty  ;  but  explorers  have  often  seen  it  in  the 
hands  of  natives,  especially  on  the  Katanga.  The 
resemblance  of  the  geological  formation  of  certain 
regions  of  the  Congo  to  that  of  the  gold-bearing 
districts  of  South  Africa  lead  me  to  believe  that 


237 


238 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


gold  mines  will  sooner  or  later  be  discovered.  The 
districts  that  give  most  promise  in  this  direction 
are  the  Katanga  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Tanganika. 

North  of  the  Momvus  country,  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Bomokandi,  rises  Mount  Tena,  a  huge  rock 
of  volcanic  origin.  Around  this  mountain  are 
found  prehistoric  axe-heads,  made  of  pure,  polished 
hematite  iron.  The  natives  find  them  just  below 
the  surface  of  the  soil,  and  think  them  to  be 
charms  of  great  value.  They  have  a  widespread 
belief  in  their  healing  virtue,  and  rub  with  them 
any  part  of  the  body  affected  by  illness,  regarding 
them  as  magic  talismans  that  have  dropped  at 
some  time  from  the  skies.  Curiously  enough,  I 
was  unable  to  find  any  trace  of  these  or  similar 
relics  in  any  other  part  of  the  whole  of  the  Welle 
district.  Dr.  Junker  mentions  them  in  his 
"Travels  in  Africa,"  and  suggests  that  in  remote 
times  workshops  existed  at  Mount  Tena,  where 
these  axe-heads  were  manufactured,  and  whence 
they  were  distributed  to  the  surrounding  parts. 

Most  mammals  are  found  in  the  Congo.  The 
monkey  tribe  is  represented  by  many  varieties,  the 
anthropoid  class  being  the  most  interesting.  As  a 
rule  monkeys  are  graminivorous,  but  they  some- 
times feast  upon  flesh,  and  play  havoc  with  the 
birds'  nests  ;  while  baboons  vary  their  diet  with 
animal,  vegetable,  and  even  insect  food. 


GOKILLA  KILLED  AT   bTANLEY  FALLS. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


241 


The  gorilla  inhabits  the  forest  regions  of  Western 
Africa  ;  his  haunts  are  between  two  degrees  north 
and  five  degrees  south.  This  ape,  a  wanderer  by 
choice  and  habit,  never  attacks  man  without 
provocation,  though  certainly  one  of  the  most 
savage  of  his  kind.  The  chimpanzee,  which  has 
often  been  confused  with  the  gorilla  but  is  not  so 
large,  has  been  seen  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
Congo — in  the  Mayombe,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Welle,  in  the  Manyema  where  it  is  called  the  soJcOy 
and  round  the  region  of  the  Equator.  Among 
natives  in  its  neighbourhood  the  existence  of  this 
ape  has  given  rise  to  many  legends.  They  assert 
that  the  chimpanzee  is  a  very  wild  man,  that  it 
builds  huts,  and  that  it  is  to  be  found  in  great 
herds  between  the  Congo  and  Xgiri  rivers. 

I  am  told  that  the  brain  of  the  chimpanzee  is 
the  one  seat  of  thought  among  the  brute  creation 
which  most  nearly  resembles  that  of  man.  From 
actual  observation  I  can  say  that  I  have  found  the 
chimpanzee  by  far  the  mosb  intelligent  and  most 
sociable  of  apes. 

The  x\frican  elephant  is  larger  and  more  massive 
than  his  Indian  cousin.  His  head  is  flatter,  his 
ears  are  much  bigger,  his  teeth  more  developed, 
his  withers  further  from  the  ground.  This  majestic 
animal  abounds  everywhere,  but  they  congregate 
especially  towards  the  north.  At  one  time,  it  is 
said,  elephants  were  distributed  from  the  Mediter- 

85 


242 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


ranean  to  the  Cape,  but  they  have  been  gradually 
driven  back  from  the  Sahara  in  a  southerly 
direction  for  the  past  two  thousand  years,  while 
at  the  Cape  they  have  been  exterminated  more 
recently. 

In  the  Congo  they  still  exist  in  their  thousands  ; 
but,  breeding  slowly,  they  would  soon  die  out  if 
energetic  measures  had  not  been  taken  for  their 
preservation.  Yet,  although  natural  and  artificial 
preserves  exist  in  great  numbers,  by  far  the  most 
efficacious  method  of  ensuring  their  survival 
would  be  to  domesticate  them.  The  fact  that  the 
African  elephant  is  to  be  found,  and  will  thrive, 
in  nearly  all  the  great  zoological  gardens  suffices 
to  show  that  this  is  possible ;  and  I  would 
strongly  recommend  the  importation  of  elephants 
from  India,  such  as  are  trained  in  capturing  their 
fellows,  and  also  of  the  mahouts  who  are  expert  in 
driving  them. 

The  average  weight  of  the  tusk  of  an  African 
elephant  is  about  sixty-five  pounds,  although  many 
of  them  are  much  smaller.  Lieutenant  Hanolet, 
for  instance  (now  Commissioner- General  Hanolet), 
killed  five  elephants  some  years  ago  in  one  day's 
hunting  at  Zongo  on  the  Ubanghi.  The  aggregate 
weight  of  ivory  carried  by  these  five  amounted  to 
no  more  than  twenty-two  pounds  !  It  is  only  fair 
to  add  that  the  explorer  killed  these  brutes  merely 
with  the  object  of  suppressing  a  herd  which  had 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


243 


been  in  the  habit  of  trooping  down  every  night 
and  ravaging  the  plantations  around  the  station. 

There  is  no  immediate  danger  of  the  extirpation 
of  the  elephant.  One  must  have  travelled  in 
Africa   to  realise  the  enormous  herds  of  these 


NATIVE  KNIVES. 


animals  which  have  their  home  in  equatorial 
forests.  The  woods  in  every  direction  show  tracks 
marking  their  pathw^ays  with  signs  of  their 
turbulence,  and  several  explorers  have  seen  large 
troops  of  them  thronging  the  bush  in  every  part 


244 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


of  the  Congo  territory.  Moreover,  as  I  have  said, 
these  elephants  are  very  strictly  preserved.  A 
royal  decree  of  the  25th  of  July,  1889,  forbids 
elephant-shooting  in  any  part  of  the  State  without 
a  license  or  special  permission;  and  in  addition  to 
this  there  are  close  districts  and  close  seasons, 
fixed  by  the  Governor- General  and  enforced  by 
the  district  commissioners.  Although  this  cannot 
affect  the  hunters  among  natives  of  more  distant 
regions,  the  primitive  nature  of  their  weapons 
precludes  the  possibility  of  anything  like  wholesale 
slaughter,  while  the  actual  number  of  elephants 
killed  by  white  sportsmen  does  not  amount  to  more 
than  one  hundred  head  in  a  year.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  always  a  danger  that  the  timid  beasts 
may  be  pursued  until  they  are  frightened  into  seek- 
ing a  more  remote  refuge  in  less  accessible  lands. 

The  African  rhinoceros,  clumsy  and  uncouth, 
has  two  horns,  differing  in  this  particular  from  the 
Asiatic,  which  carries  but  a  single  horn,  and  his 
front  weapon  of  offence  is  sometimes  as  much 
as  twenty-eight  inches  long.  This  huge  beast 
frequents  marshy  jungles,  and  is  met  with  in  pairs 
or  small  companies  on  the  Katanga,  Manyema, 
and  M'Bomu.  Like  the  elephant,  and  second  only 
to  it  in  size  among  land  animals,  the  rhinoceros 
marks  the  distinction  between  the  fauna  of  the 
forest  region  and  of  the  grass  plains  surrounding 
it  on  the  north,  east,  and  south,  in  which  countries 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


247 


are  found  the  lion,  giraffe,  zebra,  and  other 
creatures  unknown  in  the  woods  and  forests  of 
Western  Africa. 

The  birds  of  prey  inchide  the  eagle,  vulture, 
and  hawk ;  and  the  falcon  and  owl,  which  are  the 
worst  enemies  of  smaller  beasts  and  birds ;  besides 
these  the  parrot,  heron,  crane,  ibis,  sparrow, 
pelican,  duck,  and  many  gorgeously  feathered  birds 
whose  names  I  do  not  know  are  to  be  found  in  all 
parts  of  *  the  country. 

Among  the  reptiles  the  most  remarkable  are 
the  boas  and  pythons,  whose  bite  is  not 
poisonous  ;  the  long  green  river-snakes ;  the 
spitting  snake,  whose  saliva,  if  it  reaches  the 
eye  endangers  the  sight ;  and  a  most  repulsive 
serpent  known  as  the  two-headed  snake,  which 
resembles  a  gigantic  earthworm,  in  that  it  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  between  its  head  and  tail. 
Crocodiles  are  met  with  in  great  numbers  in  nearly 
every  river.  Natives  are  very  fond  of  their  flesh, 
though  they  can  seldom  taste  it,  as  a  crocodile  will 
sink  if  mortally  wounded  ;  and  they  have  no 
effective  way  of  killing  him  on  land,  unless  they 
happen  to  catch  him  napping  on  the  bank  and 
succeed  in  spearing  him.  In  place  of  a  tongue 
his  mouth  is  furnished  with  a  small  valve,  which 
just  shuts  up  with  the  gullet.  Frogs  and  toads, 
the  latter  of  great  size,  are  among  the  useful 
insect-eaters  of  the  Congo  basin. 


248 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Domestic  animals  are  for  the  most  part  imported. 
The  horse  is  of  httle  use,  especially  in  up-comitry 
districts,  where  there  is  little  fodder,  and  where 
the  bush  is  so  thick  as  to  render  riding  rather  a 
trouble  than  a  pleasure.  Asses  are  taken  over 
generally  from  the  Canary  Isles,  and  are  found 
more  serviceable,  though  the  same  problem  of 
finding  food  for  them  presents  itself.  There  are 
very  few  head  of  cattle  in  the  district,  a  fact 
ascribed  to  the  presence  of  the  tsetse  fi}^,  whose 
bite  is  death  to  them.  But  on  this  point  I  must 
most  emphatically  differ,  for  I  have  never  seen  or 
heard  of  a  tsetse  fly  in  the  whole  region.  Quite 
another  reason,  simple  and  sufficient,  decides  that 
it  cannot  be  a  stock-rearing  country,  a  reason 
which  is  the  practical  answer  to  the  old  question, 

Where  can  fodder  be  found  ?  "  Other  domestic 
animals  are  the  goat,  sheep,  dog,  and  cat ;  and 
there  is  quite  a  large  stock  of  poultry. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  jigger,  an 
insect  that  w^as  no  doubt  imported  from  Brazil  in 
the  old  slave-trading  days.  It  creeps  under  the 
skin,  generally  at  the  nail,  and  is  hardly  noticeable 
except  for  the  irritation  it  causes.  There  it  lays 
its  eggs,  and,  if  not  taken  in  time,  causes  blood- 
poisoning.  At  first  the  natives,  not  under- 
standing the  nature  of  this  pest,  died  by  scores, 
and  so  the  jigger  w^as  established,  and  spread 
across   the  continent  as   far   as   Lake  Nyassa, 


\ 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


251 


whence  it  may  reach  Zanzibar,  and  even  pass 
over  to  India. 

Fish  of  all  kinds  abound  in  the  rivers,  and  the 
natives  show  great  ingenuity  in  their  methods  of 
catching  them.  To  kill  large  fish  they  sometimes 
employ  harpoons,  or  even  arrows,  and  their  skill  in 
spearing  them  is  most  remarkable.    They  seldom 


METHOD  OF  FISHING  ON  THE  CONGO. 


fish  with  a  hne,  but  frequently  spread  various 
kinds  of  nets,  stretching  these  right  across  the 
river,  suspended  on  stakes  driven  into  the  mud. 
On  the  Kwango,  where  spearing  is  in  high  favour, 
ingenious  triple-headed  or  two-headed  arrows  are 
often  to  be  met  with,  made  for  the  special  purpose 
of  spearing  fish. 


252 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


The  barbarous  process  of  poisoning  the  water  is 
not  unknown  to  natives  of  the  Congo.  To  this 
end  they  employ  different  vegetable  juices,  w^hich 
have  the  effect  of  stupefying  the  fish,  so  that  they 
rise  to  the  surface  and  float  down  upon  the  stream 
to  be  caught  with  ease  by  those  who  are  too  lazy 
to  angle  for  them.  In  the  case  of  small  streams 
these  natural  poachers  sometimes  construct  two 
dams,  divert  the  course  of  the  stream  above  the 
upper  dam,  and  let  it  run  off  through  the  lower, 
capturing  the  fish  in  the  drained  space  between. 
There  are  also  certain  fish  that  lie  low  in  the  mud 
of  dried  lagoons,  awaiting  the  return  of  the  rainy 
season.  These  are  dug  out  by  the  natives,  and 
when  cleansed  and  cooked  make  good  food. 

Near  the  Equator  vegetation  does  not  undergo 
a  period  of  regular  repose,  as  it  does  in  more 
temperate  climes  where  the  effect  of  the  seasons 
is  felt.  Tropical  growth  is  uninterrupted,  and  few 
of  the  forest  plants  lose  their  leaves. 

Among  food-producing  plants  the  banana  de- 
serves special  notice.  The  banana-tree  reaches  to 
a  height  of  twelve  to  fifteen  feet,  unfolding  its 
magnificent  pale  green  leaves,  to  be  perhaps  ruth- 
lessly torn  to  shreds  by  the  forest  storm  and 
replaced  at  once  by  new  shoots.  The  flower 
appears  at  the  end  of  eight  or  nine  months,  and 
resembles  a  long-shaped  red  cabbage,  the  stalk  of 
which,  as  the  leaves  and  bracts  drop  off,  often 


A  LIANA  IX   THE   LAND   OF  UMANGI. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


255 


carries  as  many  as  a  hundred  bananas,  while  the 
stem  bends  under  their  weight.  When  the  fruit 
ripens  the  tree  dies,  being  at  once  replaced  by  a 
number  of  offshoots,  which  in  their  turn  develop 
into  fruit-bearing  trees. 

The  cultivation  of  the  banana  is  easier  than  • 
that  of  the  manioc,  for  the  tree  requires  very  little 
attention  beyond  the  cutting  of  the  fruit  when  it 
is  ripe.  Its  value  as  food  is  appreciated  not  less 
by  the  Europeans  than  by  the  natives.  A  banana 
orchard  is  at  once  planted  in  every  new  station, 
and  the  shoots,  roughly  torn  off  and  topped,  take 
root  as  soon  as  they  are  set,  and  give  very  little 
trouble  till  it  is  time  to  gather  the  fruit. 

In  the  Congo  the  plantain  banana  is  preferred  to 
the  silver  sort.  The  first  is  a  vegetable,  and  is 
eaten  green,  either  fried  or  boiled  ;  the  second  is  a 
dessert  fruit,  eaten  only  at  a  certain  stage  of  ripe- 
ness.   Excellent  cider  may  be  made  from  bananas. 

The  manioc  was  introduced  by  American  traders 
perhaps  as  long  ago  as  two  centuries.  The  natives 
of  the  coast  made  it  their  favourite  food,  and, 
carried  it  eastward  with  them.  It  does  not  require 
great  labour  in  its  cultivation,  but  the  first  neces- 
sity towards  a  good  crop  is  a  rich  soil,  such  as  is 
often  found  in  the  fresh  clearings  of  forests.  It  is 
eaten  raw,  after  the  husks  have  been  removed,  or  it 
may  be  boiled,  and  when  thus  treated  resembles 
the  turnip. 


256 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


Other  edible  vegetables  are  the  sweet  potato, 
beans,  arrowroot,  tapioca,  Indian  corn,  millet, 
other  farinaceous  plants  or  products,  and  the 
sugar-cane  in  small  quantities. 

Oranges,  lemons,  and  pineapples  are  found  in 
plenty,  and  the  papaw,  a  fruit  that  was  also  intro- 
duced from  America.  The  trunk  of  this  tree 
sometimes  reaches  a  height  of  thirty-six  feet. 
The  fruit,  which  resembles  a  small  melon,  is 
esteemed  a  very  valuable  food,  especially  for  in- 
valids.   Its  leaves  can  be  used  as  soap. 

As  this  is  in  no  way  intended  to  be  an  exhaus- 
tive scientific  work,  a  full  catalogue  of  all  the 
produce  of  this  fertile  country  would  encroach 
upon  space  reserved  for  other  matter.  I  there- 
fore briefly  record  the  existence  of  such  condi- 
ments as  red  pepper,  ginger,  and  varieties  of 
vanilla ;  also  of  medicinal  plants,  such  as  chin- 
chona  and  eucalyptus,  the  former  largely  ex- 
ported to  Dutch  settlements.  Palm  oil  and 
cocoanut  oil  are  to  be  obtained  in  quantities, 
and  are  much  used  by  the  natives  for  cooking- 
purposes. 

It  is  found  that  nearly  all  tropical  plants  yield 
colour  in  a  lesser  or  greater  degree.  The  usual 
tints  thus  extracted  are  yellow,  fawn,  or  red,  which 
explains  the  rarity  of  blue  or  green  in  native  dress 
and  ornaments,  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 
Indigo  is  an  exception  to  this  rule,  but  it  is  seldom 


YOUNG  COFFEE-TREES   SHADED   DY  BANANAS. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES  259 

put  to  any  home  use  by  those  who  cultivate  the 
plant  for  the  European  market. 

Caoutchouc,  or  india-rubber,  is  a  fruitful  source 
of  income.  It  is  collected  from  the  natives  in 
large  quantities,  and  is  sent  to  Europe  to  be 
manufactured,  chiefly  in  Antwerp. 

Of  the  textile  plants  the  veritable  giant  of  the 
grove  is  the  baobab.  The  widest  tree  in  the  world, 
it  is  indigenous  to  tropical  West  Africa ;  in  the 
Congo  it  is  met  with  in  large  groves  at  certain 
places,  such  as  Boma  and  Kinchasa,  but  it  dis- 
appears beyond  the  Kassai.  Its  wood  is  soft,  and 
useless  for  any  practical  purposes,  but  the  bark 
contains  fibres  that  are  valuable  for  making  rope 
and  paper,  and  also  yields  an  antifebrile  drug. 
The  flower  is  very  handsome ;  the  long-shaped 
fruit,  which  rather  reminds  one  of  a  rat  hung  up 
by  its  tail,  serves  for  several  purposes ;  it  contains 
a  sort  of  acidulated  pulp,  which  is  employed  in 
cases  of  fever ;  dried,  it  burns  like  tinder,  while 
its  shells  serve  for  the  manufacture  of  various 
utensils. 

African  forests  are  of  great  value  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  woods  of  Europe.  Only  those  who 
have  seen  them  can  imagine  the  appearance  of 
these  tracts  of  trees,  abandoned  to  the  exuberance 
of  torrid  intertropical  nature.  Many  sorts  grow 
in  a  very  intermingled  state ;  some  dominate 
others,  but  these  master-growths  are  rarely  found 


260 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


grouped  in  one  place.  The  result  is  that  in  order 
to  cut  down  a  number  of  trunks  of  the  same  kind 
one  must  cover  a  very  wide  area.  This  fact  is 
perhaps  one  of  the  best  safeguards  against  a 
wholesale  destruction  of  African  timber. 

Three  good  things  come  from  the  Congo — coffee, 
cocoa,  and  tobacco.  The  Belgian  Government 
has  established  vast  coffee  plantations,  and  the 
commerce  in  this  article  now  takes  a  high  place  in 
the  returns  of  the  country,  having  worked  its  way 
into  the  markets  of  the  chief  trading  ports. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  of  the  introduction 
of  cocoa  into  the  Congo.  In  1887  Lieutenant 
Liebrechts,  then  commanding  the  station  at  Leo- 
poldville,  one  day  saw  a  shrub  which  attracted  his 
attention,  as  differing  from  the  surrounding. plants. 
Having  cleared  away  all  encroaching  growth,  he 
discovered  to  his  surprise  a  large  fruit  growing- 
straight  out  of  the  trunk.  The  shrub  was  a  cocoa- 
tree,  which,  together  with  some  coffee  plants  and 
fruit-trees  in  its  vicinity,  was  a  remnant  of  some 
experiments  made  in  the  time  of  Stanley's  early 
expedition.  The  fruit  was  carefully  gathered,  the 
plant  jealously  watched,  and  the  seed  sown  ;  the 
results  of  this  chance  experiment  may  be  seen 
in  quite  80,000  full-grown  cocoa-trees  at  present 
flourishing  in  the  plantations  of  the  Upper  Congo. 

Elsewhere  I  have  made  mention  of  the  smoking 
customs  and  the  methods  of  preparing  tobacco 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


263 


among  various  tribes.  These  differ  with  the 
several  locahties,  and  I  have  not  space  to  dilate 
upon  them  all.  Everything  is  used  on  the  Congo 
for  making  a  pipe  that  can  possibly  suggest  itself, 
such  as  antelope  horns,  ivory,  calabashes.  To 
make  a  pipe  out  of  a  calabash,  however  large  it 
may  be,  holes  are  bored  at  the  two  ends.  In  one 
is  fixed  a  little  clay  cone,  which  serves  as  a  bowl, 
and  the  «moke  is  drawn  through  the  other  end  of 
the  fruit  without  any  stem.  These  pipes,  when 
they  belong  to  a  negro  of  quality,  are  decorated 
with  brass-headed  nails.  When  an  antelope  horn 
is  used  for  smoking  purposes,  the  wide  end  is 
applied  to  the  mouth,  and  the  operation  of  smoking 
through  one  of  these  is  more  productive  of  energy 
than  of  elegance. 

The  natives  do  not  smoke  their  pipes  through ; 
that  would  be  too  laborious  and  painful  an  opera- 
tion. As  a  rule  the  chief  lights  the  tobacco  at  a 
glowing  brazier,  takes  a  few  puffs,  and  the  pipe  is 
then  passed  sound  the  circle  in  order  of  prece- 
dence. The  consequent  spectacle  is  amusing. 
The  man  whose  turn  it  is  to  take  a  draw  is  eager 
to  lose  none  of  his  rights ;  with  surprising  vigour 
he  expands  his  lungs  to  their  greatest  extent,  and 
fills  his  nose  and  eyes  with  the  powerful  fumes, 
which  make  him  cough  till  the  tears  run  down  his 
cheeks,  as  his  neighbour  holds  out  both  hands 
anxious  to  lose  none  of  his  share.    While  all  this 


264 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


takes  place  with  ceremonious  formality,  the 
smoking  party  seem  as  serious  as  if  they  weer 
celebrating  some  mysterious  rites,  so  that  the 
impassiveness  of  their  faces  adds  to  the  absurdity 
of  the  scene. 

I  did  not  hear  of  any  natives  who  chew  tobacco. 
In  Sankuru,  at  Stanley  Pool,  and  in  the  Lower 
Congo  there  are  some  who  take  snuff ;  their  snuff- 
boxes are  tiny  calabashes,  or  little  caskets  of  wood 
or  ivory. 

The  chief  articles  of  exchange  are  imitation 
pearls,  imported  from  Italy,  Bohemia,  Bavaria, 
and  France.  Other  articles  of  barter  include  tin- 
ware, cutlery,  salt,  brass,  copper  pipes,  buttons, 
needles,  thread,  cotton  vests,  tin  whistles,  musical- 
Doxes,  trumpets,  old-fashioned  rifles,  blank  cart- 
ridges for  use  at  festivals  and  funerals,  umbrellas, 
pottery,  matches,  candles,  and  all  kinds  of  clothes 
except  trousers.  British  uniforms  are  in  great 
demand.  Up-country  a  traveller  pays  his  way 
with  common  red  or  other  coloured  handkerchiefs, 
while  in  some  of  the  more  remote  places  cowries 
have  been  known  to  form  a  sort  of  currency. 


CHAPTEE  XII 


The  transport  of  goods  on  the  Congo — Native  deserters — 
Eailways  in  Africa — A  wonderful  piece  of  engineering — 
Eailway  hnes  in  prospect — The  schemes  of  the  Congo 
Government — An  express  from  x^lexandria  to  the  Cape. 

A    NEW  colony,  however  bright  and  promising 


its  prospects,  can  only  be  started  and  built 


up  by  degrees  on  such  foundations  as  exist 
and  with  the  materials  that  are  at  hand  for  its 
establishment,  and  it  necessarily  follows  that 
progress  during  the  early  years  of  its  history  can 
be  but  slow  and  gradual. 

The  first  condition  of  success  in  such  an  under- 
taking is  the  provision  of  ample  and  adequate 
means  of  transport.  When  goods  have  to  be 
carried  for  hundreds  of  miles  on  the  heads  of 
porters,  along  bad  bush-tracks,  and  when  it  is 
quite  impossible  to  guarantee  their  ultimate 
arrival  and  probable  condition,  it  will  be  easily 


•267 


268 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


realised  that  a  great  proportion  of  the  profits 
that  should  find  their  way  into  the  pockets  of 
the  trader  are  consumed  in  the  expenses  of 
native  transport  and  by  damage  to  goods.  Of 
course  where  water  -  ways  are  available,  this 
difficulty  is  in  part  already  overcome,  and  in 
this  respect  the  Congo  Free  State  is  fortunately 
constituted  by  nature,  some  of  the  up-country 
districts  having  a  netw^ork  of  navigable  streams. 
Unfortunately,  however,  this  advantage  is  greatly 
discounted  by  the  fact  that  the  six  thousand  odd 
miles  of  rivers  and  streams  discharge  their  waters 
into  the  sea  over  a  series  of  cataracts  between 
Matadi  and  Stanley  Pool,  or  Leopoldville,  where 
the  nature  of  the  river  renders  all  navigation 
quite  impossible  for  many  miles ;  while  from 
Matadi  to  Boma,  where  the  ocean  steamers 
discharge  their  cargo,  there  is  again  clear  passage 
for  vessels  of  large  draught. 

This  series  of  cataracts,  as  may  readily  be 
understood,  was  a  constant  impediment,  hamper- 
ing the  work  of  the  State,  and  a  serious  hindrance 
to  the  commercial  interests  of  the  traders ;  and  to 
this  drawback  may  be  ascribed  the  comparatively 
slow  development  of  the  country  in  the  early  days 
of  its  colonisation. 

The  district  thus  rendered  unnavigable — and 
which  was  for  a  long  period  almost  untraversed 
— is  a  stretch  of    wild,  mountainous  highland. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


271 


From  the  river  banks  on  either  side  these 
mountains  rise  sheer ;  while  the  whole  neighbour- 
hood is  covered  with  dense  forests  of  enormous 
trees,  and  very  heavily  overshadowed  by  thick 
tropical  vegetation,  and  tangled  undergrowth. 
Perilous  descents  and  ascents  had  to  be  made, 
and  streams  had  to  be  forded,  for  often  in  the 
height  of  rainy  seasons  the  rush  of  a  mountain 
torrent  played  havoc  with  the  rude  bridges  con- 
trived by  the  natives.  Often  too  a  difficulty  has 
been  experienced  along  the  route  in  getting  food 
for  the  bearers,  who  think  nothing  of  throwing 
away  their  loads  and  bolting  through  the  forests 
to  their  villages  many  miles  distant,  if  the  food 
available  is  not  to  their  liking,  or  the  work 
becomes  at  all  irksome.  Once  he  is  in  the  bush, 
you  have  little  chance  of  catching  the  recalcitrant 
native,  and  may  think  yourself  fortunate  if  he 
does  not  steal  the  load  he  was  entrusted  with 
into  the  bargain.  The  tracks  by  which  these 
goods  had  to  be  carried  w^ere  no  better  than 
indistinct  native  pathways,  so  that  the  trading- 
overseer  usually  stood  the  double  chance  of 
missing  his  way  in  the  bush  and  of  losing  his 
men  by  desertion.  Altogether  the  difficulties  to 
be  contended  against  in  the  transport  of  merchan- 
dise were  so  great  that  we  cannot  wonder  at  the 
Government  deciding,  at  all  costs,  to  build  a 
railway  between  the   points  hitherto  connected 


272 


THE  LAXD  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


only  by  such  uncertain  links  as  these  caravans 
of  porters.  By  this  means  they  hoped  to  develop 
traffic  along  the  rivers,  and,  one  may  say,  the 
lakes,  for  the  effect  and  result  of  this  two  hundred 
miles  of  railway  was  intended  to  be  far-reaching 
and  substantial. 

I  remember  coming  across  an  odd  copy  of  the 
Geographical  Journal  one  afternoon,  when  a 
welcome  batch  of  newspapers  had  turned  up  to 
cheer  my  solitude  and  to  raise  my  spirits,  that 
were  dejected  by  a  perpetual  downpour  of  rain. 
In  this  particular  number  I  found  an  article  on 

Railways  in  Africa,"  by  Major  Darwin,  which, 
though  written  on  general  lines,  had  a  particular 
bearing  on  existing  needs  and  circumstances.  In 
one  short  paragraph  the  author  so  aptly  summed 
up  the  Railway  Question  of  Africa,  that  I  cannot 
refrain  from  quoting  it.  I  copied  it  out  at  the 
time,  but  I  regret  not  being  able  to  give  an  exact 
reference,  as  the  paper  disappeared  among  other 
filched  baggage.  Major  Darwin's  remarks  ran 
thus :  "To  develop  the  traffic  along  the  rivers 
and  on  the  lakes  is  the  first  stage  of  commercial 
evolution  in  a  continent  like  Africa.  But  it 
cannot  carry  us  very  far.  Africa  is  badly  supplied 
with  navigable  rivers,  chiefly  as  a  natural  result 
of  the  general  formation  of  the  land.  The  con- 
tinent consists,  broadly  speaking,  oi  a  huge 
plateau,  and  the  rivers  flowing  off  this  plateau 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


275 


are  obstructed  by  cataracts  in  exactly  the  places 
where  we  most  want  to  use  them — that  is,  when 
approaching  the  coasts.  The  second  stage  in  the 
commercial  evolution  will  therefore  be  the  con- 
struction of  railways  with  a  view  to  supplement 
this  river  traffic.  Finally,  no  doubt,  a  further 
stage  will  be  reached,  when  railways  will  cut  out 
the  rivers  altogether.  This  last  stage  is,  however, 
so  far  off  'that  we  may  neglect  it  for  the  present. 
...  In  going  up  this  great  stream  (the  Congo) 
from  the  coast,  we  first  traverse  about  150  miles 
of  navigable  water-way,  and  afterwards  come  to 
some  200  miles  of  cataracts,  through  which 
steamers  cannot  pass.  Eound  this  impediment 
a  railway  is  now  being  pushed.  Then  we  enter 
Stanley  Pool,  and  from  this  poiut  we  have  open 
before  us  7,000  miles  of  navigable  water-way. 
If  this  fact  is  correct,  and  if  the  population  is 
accurately  marked  on  our  maps,  then  there  is  no 
place  in  all  Africa  ivliere  200  miles  of  railway  may 
he  expected  to  produce  such  marked  results.''  The 
italics  are  mine,  and  I  use  them  to  draw  special 
attention  to  this  most  important  statement. 

The  necessity  for  such  a  railway  became  more 
and  more  obvious,  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that 
Stanley,  with  his  customary  far-sightedness  in 
matters  pertaining  to  colonial  welfare,  alluded  to 
the  railway  as  a  sine  qua  non  in  his  report  to  the 
Belgian  Government,   but  the  lack  of  adequate 


276 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


funds  delayed  all  further  negotiations  for  some 
time. 

Meanwhile  a  syndicate  was  formed  of  Man- 
chester merchants,  who  decided  to  build  the 
railway  at  their  own  expense,  to  be  worked  for 
their  own  profit,  if  Stanley  could  get  them  a 
concession  from  the  State.  This  would  not  at 
the  time  have  presented  any  serious  difficulties ; 
but,  fortunately  for  the  State,  the  syndicate 
collapsed  on  technical  grounds,  and  further  work 
in  this  matter  was  then  carried  on  by  the  Belgian 
Government  and  people.  A  survey  party  was  sent 
out  under  command  of  Captain  Cambier,  in  1887, 
having  as  its  object  the  plotting  of  the  route  and 
the  triangulation  of  the  country  along  which  it 
was  to  pass.  The  party  met  with  serious  diffi- 
culties and  obstructions ;  the  most  trifling  details 
were  wanting,  and  had  to  be  determined,  for  at 
that  time  far  less  was  known  about  the  country 
through  which  the  line  was  to  pass  than  we  know 
now.  The  engineers  had  to  make  their  own 
geological  observations,  even  the  latitude  and 
longitude  of  the  terminal  stations  was  unrecorded, 
and  all  the  information  gleaned  from  natives  was 
of  very  little  practical  value. 

But  Captain  Cambier  and  his  brigade  of 
engineers  stuck  to  their  work,  with  the  gratifying- 
result  that  within  a  year  of  starting  the  route 
was  mapped  out   and   another  route  surveyed. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


279 


After  this  the  completion  of  the  project  was 
merely  a  matter  of  time  and  money.  The  latter 
was  raised  by  a  limited  company,  State-organised, 
in  Brussels,  the  necessary  capital  being  readily 
subscribed ;  and  the  shares  having  risen  in  value 
during  the  years  of  construction  from  thirty  to 
forty-seven  francs,  the  investment  was  considered  a 
sound  one  on  all  sides.  The  story  of  the  practical 
work,  and  the  putting  into  effect  of  the  surveyors' 
projections,  would  make  a  fair-sized  volume.  I 
have  only  to  say  that  it  was  carried  out  by  the 
brigade  of  engineers  of  the  Congo  Company  with 
all  possible  speed.  July  last  year  (1897)  saw  their 
efforts  crowned  with  the  first  measure  of  success, 
when  the  railway  was  formally  opened  for  traffic  as 
far  as  the  Inkissi  Eiver. 

On  my  return  journey  I  travelled  over  this 
district  by  the  new  line,  and,  while  I  cannot 
speak  from  the  point  of  view  taken  by  a  practical 
engineer,  I  am  inclined  to  consider  the  work  as 
a  most  marvellous  piece  of  modern  railway 
engineering.  I  doubt  if  there  are  fifty  miles 
elsewhere,  even  in  Europe  or  America,  where  the 
same  number  of  difficulties  had  to  be  circum- 
vented, or  where  so  many  extraordinary  feats  of 
engineering  present  themselves  to  the  traveller, 
calling  up  his  admiration  and  respect  for  the 
constructors. 

The  route  among  such  mountains  as  flank  the 


280 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


shores  of  the  Congo  could  not  be  a  direct  one, 
but  under  the  circumstances  it  would  probably 
puzzle  any  engineers  to  have  found  a  nearer  way. 
Still  I  cannot  say  it  is  very  comfortable  travelling. 
You  look  out  of  the  carriage  window  and  trace 
the  line  as  it  winds  around  the  walls  of  a  sheer 
precipice,  or  down  the  rough,  boulder-broken  sides 
of  a  hill — turning  sharp  corners  with  a  bridge  that 
is  thrown  across  a  yawning  gorge  or  gully;  you 
swing  round,  dashing  down  a  break-neck  slope, 
and  next  moment  you  are  puffing  up  the  arduous 
ascent  of  a  mountain-track.  The  journey  is  full 
of  surprises,  not  the  least  of  which  are  the  glimpses 
and  the  flashes  of  charming  scenery  that  attract 
the  eye  as  you  are  borne  along  through  hillside 
cuttings,  where  every  turn  reveals  some  fresh 
picture  of  nature's  bold  handiwork. 

The  labour  employed  is  partly  native  and  partly 
white.  There  is  always  a  white  engineer  on  the 
foot-plate  of  the  locomotive,  while  the  fireman  is 
generally  a  native.  I  am  told  that  there  is  the 
making  of  very  intelligent  engine-drivers  in  several 
of  the  Company's  stokers,  which  is  but  another 
proof  of  the  oft-observed  latent  capability  of  the 
untutored  savage.  For  the  rest  the  railway  is  run 
on  exactly  the  same  system  as  a  Belgian  line, 
even  to  excess-charge  for  luggage.  The  price  of  a 
ticket  from  Leopoldville  to  Matadi,  I  believe,  is 
something  like  two  hundred  francs ;  but  by  far 


NATIVE  CLIMBING  PALM-TREE. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


283 


the  greater  part  of  the  Company's  revenue  is 
derived  from  the  conveyance  of  m(iJrchandise  to 
and  from  the  interior.  Already  the  piibhshed 
sheets  show  a  very  handsome  scale  of  profits. 

In  the  beginning  of  July  this  year  (1898)  there  is 
every  reason  to  hope  that  the  line  will  be  in  working 
order  as  far  as  Leopoldville,  its  ultimate  destina- 
tion. The  exact  route  is  across  the  Lufu  river  to 
the  Inkissi,  a  distance  of  about  180  miles ;  thence, 
by  Matanda,  about  45  miles,  to  Leopoldville. 

The  primary  object  of  the  Congo  Company  in 
establishing  this  railway  is,  as  I  have  said,  to 
facilitate  communication  with  the  interior,  and 
to  obviate  the  necessity  of  portage  that  has  been 
so  long  a  standing  hindrance  to  trade.  But  there 
is  a  far  greater  significance  attaching  to  it,  for 
it  is  one  of  the  most  important  links  connecting 
the  West  Coast  of  Africa  with  the  East. 

Already,  under  Captain  Pringle,  R.E.,  the  survey 
for  the  Uganda  Railway  has  been  completed,  and 
in  part  the  line  is  already  laid.  This  survey,  made 
in  the  early  part  of  1892,  was  for  a  line  to  run 
from  Mombasa,  on  the  coast,  to  Victoria  Station, 
on  the  Victoria  N'yanza,  at  Berkeley  Bay.  A 
further  survey  was  made  round  the  shores  in  a 
westerly  direction,  but  time  did  not  permit  of  its 
completion,  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  great  moment 
for  the  present ;  still  it  is  worth  noticing  that  the 
Stanley  Falls  on  the  main  stream  of  the  Congo 


284 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  PIGMIES 


are  in  a  direct  line  with  the  proposed  terminus  of 
the  Uganda  Eailway,  and  that  there  is  an  in- 
tention of  connecting  the  falls  with  the  shores 
of  the  lake.  Once  it  is  completed,  the  highway 
will  be  established  right  across  the  heart  of 
Equatorial  Africa,  and  its  ultimate  effect  in  open- 
ing up  the  country  is  incalculable. 

The  other  plans  which  the  Congo  Government 
have  in  view  are  hardly  of  less  importance.  Far 
from  being  content  with  this  single  effort,  the 
State  officials  are  busily  engaged  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  two  grand  schemes  for  improvements  in 
the  regions  of  the  Upper  Congo,  one  being  to 
connect  Katanza  to  the  navigable  water-ways  by 
a  railway  that  is  to  join  the  Ehodes  Eailway 
which  is  working  its  way  northward;  the  other 
is  to  strike  in  a  northward  direction,  in  order 
to  effect  a  junction  with  the  Nile  Railway.  The 
State  is  confident  that  at  no  very  distant  date 
it  will  see  these  schemes  accomplished,  nor  is 
it  blind  as  to  their  immediate  and  lasting  value. 
Should  it  succeed  in  realising  these  ideals,  we 
may  look  for  a  vastly  different  Africa  in  a  few 
years'  time — Africa  with  a  Grand  Trunk  line  from 
Mombasa  to  Boma,  and  a  Cape  express  running 
from  Alexandria. 


APPENDICES 


I.— LETTER  FEOM   THE   KING   OF  THE 
BELaiAXS 

THE  agents  of  the  Congo  Free  State  have  in  recent  times 
been  severely  tried.  Their  ranks  have  been  exposed  to 
cruel  and  repeated  blows  of  fate.  Identifying  myself  with  the 
unanimous  regret  felt  for  such  painful  losses,  I  am  anxious 
to  pay  a  token  of  gratitude  to  all  who  have  gallantly  sacrificed 
their  lives  in  the  performance  of  their  duty.  As  is  the  case 
with  all  great  causes,  the  one  which  we  serve  in  the  Congo 
has  had  many  victims.  To  those  upholders  of  manly  tradi- 
tions and  pioneers  of  progress  who  survive,  I  desire  to  address 
some  words  which  my  heart  dictates  to  me. 

The  mission  which  the  agents  of  the  State  have  to  ac- 
complish on  the  Congo  is  a  noble  one.  They  have  to  continue 
the  development  of  civilisation  in  the  centre  of  Equatorial 
Africa,  receiving  their  inspnution  directly  from  Berlin  and 
Brussels. 

Placed  face  to  face  with  primitive  barbarism,  grappling  with 
sanguinary  customs  that  date  back  thousands  of  years,  they 
are  obliged  to  reduce  these  gradually.  They  must  accustom 
the  population  to  general  laws,  of  which  the  most  needful  and 
the  most  salutary  is  assuredly  that  of  work. 

In  such  countries,  I  know,  strong  authority  must  be  im- 


286 


APPENDICES 


posed  to  bring  the  natives  (who  have  no  such  inchnation)  to 
conform  to  the  usages  of  civihsation.  For  that  purpose  we 
must  be  both  firm  and  parental.  In  a  district  hke  the  Congo 
the  native  population  is  at  the  base  of  the  true  wealth  of  the 
country,  and  our  first  object  must  be  to  secm^e  its  free  expan- 
sion. Our  refined  society  attaches  to  human  life  (and  with 
reason)  a  value  unknown  to  barbarous  communities.  When 
om^  directing  will  is  implanted  among  them  its  aim  is  to 
triumph  over  all  obstacles,  and  results  which  could  not  be 
attained  by  lengthy  speeches  may  follow  philanthropic  in- 
fluence. But  if,  in  view  of  this  desirable  spread  of  civilisa- 
tion, we  count  upon  the  means  of  action  which  confer  upon  us 
dominion  and  the  sanction  of  right,  it  is  not  less  true  that  our 
ultimate  end  is  a  work  of  peace.  Wars  do  not  necessarily 
mean  the  ruin  of  the  regions  in  which  they  rage ;  om'  agents 
do  not  ignore  this  fact,  so  from  the  day  when  their  effective 
superiority  is  affirmed,  they  feel  profoundly  reluctant  to  use 
force.  The  wretched  negroes,  however,  who  are  still  under 
the  sole  sway  of  then-  traditions,  have  that  horrible  belief  that 
victory  is  only  decisive  when  the  enemy,  fallen  beneath  their 
blows,  is  annihilated.  The  soldiers  of  the  State,  who  are  re- 
cruited necessarily  from  among  the  natives,  do  not  immediately 
forsake  those  sanguinary  habits  that  have  been  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation.  The  example  of  the  white 
officer  and  wholesome  military  discipline  gradually  inspire  in 
them  a  horror  of  human  trophies  of  which  they  previously  had 
made  their  boast.  It  is  in  their  leaders  that  they  must  see 
living  evidence  of  these  higher  principles,  taught  that  the 
exercise  of  authority  is  not  at  all  to  be  confounded  with 
cruelty,  but  is,  indeed,  destroyed  by  it.  I  am  pleased  to  think 
that  our  agents,  nearly  all  of  whom  are  volunteers  drawn  from 
the  ranks  of  the  Belgian  army,  have  always  present  in  their 
minds  a  strong  sense  of  the  career  of  honour  in  which  they 
are  engaged,  and  are  animated  with  a  pure  feeling  of  pat- 
riotism ;  not  sparing  their  own  blood,  they  will  the  more  spare 
the  blood  of  the  natives,  who  will  see  in  them  the  aU-powerful 
protectors  of  their  lives  and  their  property,  benevolent  teachers 
of  whom  they  have  so  great  a  need. 

Our  only  programme,  I  am  anxious  to  repeat,  is  the  work  of 


APPENDICES 


287 


material  and  moral  regeneration,  and  we  must  do  this  among  a 
population  whose  degeneration  in  its  inherited  conditions  it  is 
difficult  to  measure.  The  many  horrors  and  atrocities  which 
disgrace  humanity  give  way  little  by  little  before  our  interven- 
tion. Each  step  forward  made  by  our  people  must  mark  an 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  natives.  From  these 
territories  of  infinite  extent,  nearly  all  of  them  vague  and 
uncultivated,  where  the  natives  could  only  procure  for  them- 
selves a  meagre  daily  subsistence,  the  experience  and  under- 
standing, the  enterprise  and  initiative  of  the  European  evokes 
wealth  and  resom-ces  hitherto  unsuspected.  If  he  creates 
needs,  he  satisfies  them  to  the  full.  Penetration  into  virgin 
lands  is  accomplished.  Communication  is  established,  roads 
are  opened,  the  soil  yields  its  produce  in  exchange  for  the 
articles  we  make  and  import.  Legitimate  trade  and  industry 
spring  into  vigorous  life,  and  in  proportion  as  economic 
conditions  are  improved,  goods  assume  an  intrinsic  value. 
Private  and  public  property,  the  basis  of  all  social  de- 
velopment, is  defended  and  respected,  instead  of  being  given 
over  to  the  law  that  "  Might  is  Eight." 

This  material  prosperity  obviously  consolidates  the  interests 
of  whites  and  negroes.  Their  primitive  nature  will  not  resist 
indefinitely  the  pressing  appeals  of  Christian  culture.  Their 
education,  once  begun,  will  proceed  apace.  It  is  in  its  success 
that  I  see  the  consummation  of  the  task  undertaken  by  our  people, 
and  so  admnably  seconded  by  our  priests  and  missionaries. 
To  establish  a  direct  immediate  current  of  communication 
with  the  natives  spread  over  the  basin  of  the  Congo  has  been 
the  most  important  part  of  our  programme,  and  this  was  done 
by  Belgium  during  fifteen  years,  without  the  co-operation  of 
any  other  State.  The  network  of  railways  and  stations  has 
gradually  put  an  end  to  the  incessant  warfare  of  tribe  against 
tribe,  village  against  village,  and  thus  has  brought  about  a  rule 
of  peace. 

Geographically  determined,  the  Congo  is  a  state  whose 
boundaries  are  occupied  and  guarded,  a  result  nearly  unequalled 
in  the  history  of  colonisation,  but  which  is  explained  by  the 
concentration  of  all  my  efforts  in  one  field  of  action. 

The  difficulties  we  have  encountered  will  be  greatly  reduced 


288 


APPENDICES 


with  the  speedy  completion  of  the  railway  from  Bas  Congo  to 
Stanley  Falls. 

I  appeal  again  to  the  devotion  of  w^hich  our  agents  have 
already  given  so  many  proofs.  The  creation  of  that  fresh 
means  of  communication  will  soon  bring  forth  fruit.  It  will 
connect  closely  the  Congo  with  the  mother  country,  which  will 
prompt  Europe  (whose  eyes  follow  us)  to  take  a  benevolent  and 
generous  interest  in  all  our  labours,  which  will  convey  to  our 
progress  a  more  and  more  rapid  and  decisive  impetus,  and 
which  will  soon  introduce  into  the  vast  region  of  the  Congo 
all  the  blessings  of  Christian  civilisation. 

I  thank  our  agents  for  all  their  efforts,  and  I  reiterate  the 
expression  of  my  royal  affection. 

LEOPOLD. 


II.— A  .GLOSSARY  OF  WORDS  AND 
PHRASES. 


Here  I  give  a  small  dictionary  of  the  chief  words  used  in 
the  Mang-bettou  tongue,  to  which  glossary  I  have  added  a 
collection  of  colloquial  phrases  and  ordinary  terms  of  con- 
versation. The  words  are  given  in  alphabetical  order,  and 
the  phrases  are  put  together  in  the  Ollendorf  method. 


English. 

Mang-bettou. 

Ant  (cont.) 

Emumsiani-  ungive 

A. 

(very  large) 

>> 

Makakaro  (white 

Antelope 

Nadda  (deer),  ndi- 

ant) 

mbo  (grand) 

Afternoon 

Totiani 

>  > 

Nkpedde  (blue) 

Ann 

Nebiba 

Animal 

Neri 

Amulet 

nabiko 

Arrow 

Nembangu 

Ashamed 

Arm  (fore) 

Netckwo 

(to  be) 

nekanyangasini 

Ahor 

Nassoro 

Angry 

netopakpara 

Arrive 

mopopoburu 

Ascend  (a 

B. 

hill) 

mongoli  ta  kopi 

Afraid 

neru 

Bad 

menganda 

Axe 

n'koombi 

Bag 

baggara 

Awake 

n'angaaoonia 

Banana 

mbipe 

Ant 

olioli  (very  small) 

)  > 

nabira 

>» 

nebibiani  (small) 

f  > 

n'mbugu  (fruit) 

nandchutchu(large) 

Bullet 

nevanga 

41  289 


290 


APPENDICES 


Bow  (instru- 

ment) 

nekudive 

Bother 

Yanangueh 

Body 

nambelu 

Bed 

n'karagbah 

Bedstead 

nesfo 

Beer 

aur 

Bread 

ebagara 

Bottle 

erezaze 

o 

Box 

nepuguru 

Boot 

gessoom 

Black 

mekoo 

Basket 

netookoo 

baggara  (small) 

Bead 

n'leke 

Butter 

nepazu 

Big 

massibobo 

(persons) 

nekpopwo  (of 

things) 

Buy 

nebaugwe 

Behind 

nengu 

Blood 

aripo 

Belly 

neo 

Back 

meme 

B  iffalo 

nplci  bi 

Black 

nameku 

]5efore 

ketu 

Brother 

Yandugu  iengwa 

Bird 

nari 

C. 

Cup 

n'kosi 

Come 

kieri 

Corn 

nendo 

Child 

negongwe 

Crocodile 

negondi 

Cloth 

n'roomoo-nogi 

(nature  cloth) 

Cap 

Kepsurn 

Cock 

jMabangane 

Cow 

muti 

Chair 

nohara,  /^womfln'ci 

AXW                                  1    VV  WlilClJll  O 

stool) 

kittvi")fl,rji,  ( n  n.tii VP 

chair) 

Cord 

nameiniba 

Cooking-pot 

nimbu-dskareh 

Carrier 

n'ebili 

Cold 

netu 

Cleanse 

kobaru 

Cloud 

^XundugUjbanerobu 

Rain  cloud 

nindura 

Chin 

n'etachiechi 

Chain 

esserigbi 

Cassava 

no-u 

Cry 

ungoumoo 

Circle 

mekikiri 

Canoe 

nekoko 

Chief 

ue  Kine 

Copper 

nattaroo 

Curly  (hair) 

Angoi  yandedru 

Crooked 

ne  kere  mako 

Crush 

korpu 

Cord 

ne  duppeh 

Climb  (a  tree)  kanderubu 

D. 

Do 

Kaesci 

Dear 

metetere 

Door 

nossoossoo 

Dog  nessi 

to  Drink  mambo 

Death  angunzi 

Drum  neguku 

Dance  kobe 

Dry  season  nebura 

Dirty  neduida 


APPENDICES 


291 


Dry 

nekaranga 

Drop 

diporah 

iyx  Ui-ii  luig/ 

■nplrnr]  n 

to  Dam 

Kangobu  n' 

Dumb 

otikah 

Deaf 

ebematoh 

E. 

Ear 

nebi 

E  a  rv\  n  c 

JJJCtlXlilci 

pdpn  P"hp 

ma  111  JO 

nengo 

Elephant 

noko 

Egg  _ 

ebaragaka 

Evening 

Tr.  V.,-. 

iaou 

Earth 

nape 

Exist 

aspdrn 

Elpiifiinp 

ne  kiyniboo 

EVi  1    wVint  I 

XLiXi  I     Wllclu  ! 

-n-dUlJclll 

F. 

Father 

papa 

Finger 

netengwe 

Foot 

epoindu 

Fish 

nanger^ 

Forest  (under- 

wood 

nopi 

Forest(trees 

)negbondo 

Fork 

nedjodjo 

Fire 

nekago 

Far 

mendondro 

Few 

peidi 

Fly  (noun) 

anzi 

Fall 

angude 

Finished 

angebi 

Flee 

Kuruengo 

Friend 

Andragu 

augaeru 

Forget 

akubaya 

Flour 
Flower 
Feather 
Fly  flap 


Good 


Go 


Gourd  (un- 
dressed) 

Guinea  fowl 
(black  and 
white) 

Guinea  fowl 
(black  and 
blue) 

Giraffe 

Gun 

Grass(high) 
,,  (short) 
Give 
God 
Gourd 
to  Gash 
Gum  (teeth) 
Gone 
Grind 
Grave 
Gum 
Ground 


Kiumbapu 
ungoekbo 
nekudu 
nongw6 

G. 

mombe 
noli  (walk) 
maiyo  (go) 
Kweeo  (go) 
(Imperative)  geza- 
du  (go  away  far) 

nabio 


Corunja 


Kenge 

nabewara 

negundu 

nopi 

umma 

nabidda 

ara  (all ah) 

nekodu 

kangovoni  ni  kotu 

nekirikiri 

angoro 

korpu 

kungotetapi 

banderri 

daburu 


H. 

His  (posses- 
sive) baneh 
House  nedjo 


292 


APPENDICES 


Hail 

ekubibilu 

Lemon 

nemepopwa 

Here 

Baza 

Leg  (lower 

How 

Assidu 

part) 

netopu 

Hoe 

n'kongo 

Lightning 

N'imbimbatu 

Hyaena 

oongah 

n'kirima 

Hen 

naredra 

n'eturu 

Hat  (straw)  buranita 

Lance 

Caru 

Hand. 

anite 

Laugh 

ekati 

Head 

nedru 

Live 

kudi 

Hair 

edrui 

Little  (of 

Heart 

negugu 

persons) 

mayeyere 

Hippopota- 

Little (of 

mus 

nedrupa 

things) 

massasangwe 

Hpa.vpn 

X-LOC*J  V  Ci-i. 

norro 

to  Lie 

njeie'to 

Hat 

notnku 

Lip 

tipokepi 

Heat 

TCndpimuini 

Lighten 

komadendi 

Hunger 

nemu 

Land 

neba 

to  Hide 

angodje 

Liver 

kubia 

Half 

kaki 

to  Limp 

nabruamodai 

Honey 

neboi 

Lonsr- 

o 

Husband 

mashmandra 

sighted 

nainya  mambettwa 

Hook 

Log  (for 

XldittJ 

kamomami 

burning) 

nakidu 

tn  TTnil 

T\  £>  n  "vj  £1  It  K"  ii. 

M. 

I. 

Many 

Mekutukutu 

I 

emnia 

More 

Mekutu 

Iron 

nbike 

Man 

namasi 

If 

obonden^ 

Maize 

n'endo 

Ivory 

nekoki 

Mule 

akudja 

K. 

Mother 

Monkey 

nabura 

Knife 

n'dopwa 

chim- 

Kill 

matomipa 

panzee 

nozu 

Kick 

angoduna 

Milk 

ebagu 

L. 

Mat 

nekanga 

Messenger 

nadedunbi 

Lion 

mazambula 

Moustache 

endulu 

Leopard 

lukundoo 

Month 

nangwckanna 

APPENDICES 


293 


iviouin 

tipo 

ivieat 

neri 

Mountain 

kobi 

Manioc 

nehu 

Melt 

angou 

Moon 

nangwe 

Many 

(now  r) 

neri 

Morning 

neburubu 

N. 

■VT 

No 

kare 

JNot 

kayebo 

Nine 

Tegeligikanna 

Nose 

namo 

Nuts  (pea) 

seieniouiui 

Nignt 

nekini 

Near 

kundi-kundi 

Now 

gagaddi 

Net 

nado 

None 

a  tupa 

Neck 

nekoropo 

Noon 

totiani 

Nail 

n'ekeke 

Narrow 

nedaur  sesangw^ 

0. 

Oil 

nezu 

(Jstricn 

nekudu 

Orange 

namendendenge 

Oracle 

mapmgo 

Other 

nakaone 

to  Open 

kapu 

Oval 

n'morbwa  tappoo 

One-eyed 

engamoteh 

One-armed 

neminger6 

Oil  (palm) 

nepazi 

Potato 

Pipe 

Parrot 

Python 

Pepper 

Porridge 

Pirogue 

Plate 

Present 

Pin 

Powder 
Paper 
Palm-tree 
Palm  wine 
Pan 

Pot  (ordin- 
ary) 
Pot  (large) 
Paddle 
Pompom 
Papae 


Quick 


Eed 

Koad 

Reed 

Rain 

Rat 

Rice 

River 

Rivulet 

to  Run 

Rectangular 

Rainbow 


namazenge 

nammepopwo 

akowa 

n'gooma 

massambala 

quakie 

nekoko 

nagatu 

nagazedji 

nogopwo 

nengumbe 

warrigah 

uku 

awa 

nepengo 

nedeggeve 

nimbu 

kapi 

narekudu 
gissita  (Arab) 


Q.  ■ 

togara 
R. 

mengbamba 
nei 

essumbo 

n'kuma 

nepi 

nepunga 

nemaijo 

messesangwe 

kuriungo 

n'ekarugba 

n'ekirina 


294 


APPENDICES 


Road 

n'ehyi 

Scratch 

ango  gundi 

r<  Am  PTTl  nPT" 

Sc[uare 

n'morbo 

r? r»n  en 

Shut 

kflP'bo 

mababer6 

Sesame 

nezizi 

Sharp 

amamika 

S. 

to  Sla.n 

ji.Ti  0"n.tn,mi 

CMLlh^ojliCu  111 L 

Strike 

a  Ti  P'oni  n  nm  a. 

tXJXXCiV-'  l._/XXXW XXX c« 

Sister 

nomandro 

Slip 

>>  >^xxj^ 

angaeriah 

Son 

andrangwa 

Short 

me  eyerri 

Shoulder 

netebaba 

Straight 

namameyo 

Stomach 

neki 

Stop 

nepaki 

She-goat 

nismenandro 

a  Shield 

nengouma 

Snake 

netatara 

Stockade 

n'egboto 

Salt 

nagandju 

Stick  (for 

Sugar 

naturu 

back  res 

t^  n vlia.ncbn.b 

Star 

eturu 

Sun 

neka 

T. 

Str>np 

neknni 

fx  pl-jpKi 

Thigh 

nedo 

Sunshade 

nesisi 

Tooth 

ekki 

KJ \J     iV  O 

ma.vpnb  ( \v\ 

XXX  tXiXwH-lk-/  IXXXI 

To-day 

netune 

Rtrnn  0 

mapagpara 

To-morrow  Toboruba  (e 

Sick 

nunzi 

morning) 

Seek 

maudamu  nda 

Tree 

nakere 

to  Suffer 

nunzi 

Thunder 

nagbara 

to  Sleep 

m  angedu-ey6 

Tobacco 

tobo 

Shield 

n'guma 

to  Throw 

kuddi 

Sheet 

kato 

to  Throw 

nolia 

over 

kato 

to  See 

magu 

True 

mundia  sodri 

to  Smoke 

mandru  netabu 

Thou 

immi 

Stop 

kallemadio 

to  Tie 

kori 

Sold  at 

ebasseye 

to  Thank 

mametetere 

Sell 

kaomaku 

Tongue 

nekadra 

Speak 

kudia 

This 

dondre 

Skin 

kepi 

That 

nendri 

Shoe 

makaku 

Toe 

katwa 

Shame 

neganyi 

to  Tear 

kangoon 

Stumble 

angifoo  konadi 

Triangle 

n'doga 

APPENDICES 


295 


Top 

n'ametippo 

Wind 

nebimbatu 

to  Talk 

nekodenapakeri 

Window 

nosussu 

Tear 

ondwoa 

Wine 

awa 

Tall 

nekeretati 

War 

napu 

Tie 

m'ingati 

Where 

ari 

Tickle 

angeku'ima 

Wash 

mabegu 

Tomato 

netanga 

to  Wish 

mauma 

Thin 

to  Work 

nemiru 

Thick 

n'humboru 

to  Weep 

kumu 

±1  uiiipeu 

to  ^''^rap  up 

anyoma  ondrooae 

K\  ^^^^^  nvn  Qc^i 

pette  kooro 

Trumpet 

>  V  nisijic 

(small) 

nom  bongo 

Wise 

etiodu  etwa 

>\  eii 

Tr\  ri  n  ri  I'm 
11  U.HU.1  U.1 

U.  Y.  W. 

W^hirlwind 

nabiri 

\v  nai 

dSSUlgW  tJ 

White 

en  .  \v  ndi . 

Kci  u  uan 

(man) 

mussungu 

(colour) 

mobu 

Y. 

Water 

egumanbo 

Wife 

n'andronandra 

Yes 

ee 

Warm 

mode 

Yesterday 

oburunde 

Woman 

nandro 

Year 

nekaranga 

Wood 

kire 

You 

imma 

It  is  desolate  and  rainy. 
I  see  a  man  standing  up  in  the 
boats. 

I  am  a  European,  and  you  are 

a  Suaheli. 
We    are  Europeans,  you  are 

Suaheli. 

This  is  a  hunter,  the  others  are 

fishermen. 
This  inspector  is  w^orse  than 

that  one. 


Kakoumonounet. 
Magongou  nabour  kano  angodri 
tekoko 

Ima  nemosoungou  em  Su&heh 

Ama  nemousoungou,  eke  Sua- 
heli 

Nabour   oporinet,  nabour  no- 

ponguet. 
Neloula    inatende  nepagpara 

endri  kaba.sibenet 


296 


APPENDICES 


This  tree  is  higher  than  that 
one. 

This  bed  is  larger  than  that. 
This  ditch  is  larger  than  that. 
It  is  time  for  us  to  go. 
I  strike  the  servant  of  the  Arab. 

We  strike  the  slaves   of  the 

Arabs. 
I  have  a  good  knife. 
I  do  not  like  this  place. 
Have  you  broken  the  bow  ? 
The  man  who  has  broken  the 

bow  will  be  punished. 
The  individuals  who  stole  the 

cucumber  out  of  my  garden 

have  not  yet  been  caught. 
Where  is   the  man  who  has 

stolen  the  bin  of  the  guide  ? 
The  servant   has  washed  the 

clothes  of  the  European. 
We  have  loaded  the  guns  of 

the  European. 
They  have  stolen  the  shoe  of 

the  Doctor. 
He  has  destroyed  the  hut  of 

the  Doctor. 
You  have  gathered  the  nuts  of 

the  palm  of  the  European. 
Tell  me  that  I  may  know  also. 
Tell   them   not   to  leave  the 

house. 

Tell   him    again    that   I  can 

understand  him. 
Speak  slowly  that  I  may  write 

down  w^hat  you  say. 
The  master  is  in  the  house. 
l^]ven  when  he  speaks  the  truth 

no  one  believes  him. 


Nekiret  namoda  nako  mengwu 

Nigo  mepogpo  mekanobou. 
Nekopi  nepagpara  endri  nepara. 
Kamayo  amayo. 
Mangossou  namodia  nematema- 
tamba. 

Mangossou   mangari  namodia 

nematematamba. 
Nesapi  mebali. 
Kamsmou  edri. 
Mangopou  nekoudet  ? 
Emi  mopo  nekoudet  mopo. 

Naboui  egwa  nadrone  magouke 
kogadu. 

Adoungwe  egua  nekoumbi  ado- 
nelu  ? 

Namodwenamandro  abewumou 

nemoungou. 
Kangete  futaki  naboundouk  ne- 

mounugou. 
Kangegou  markouf  nemoganga. 

Kanopou  nedio  nemogangi. 

Kangofo  oko  nemousoungou. 

Kaboumoko  nemangetti. 
Kaboumoko  nagesabiri  indioto. 

Kaboumoko  boumettje. 

Mongodeberet  tirri  sedou  mai 

waiga. 
Nekignet  nedjotto. 
Angodjo  mobe  madendi  neto. 


APPENDICES 


297 


See  that  one  who  shot  at  me. 

There  is  no  wind  to-day. 

If  you  do  not  understand  Sua- 

heh  I  will  explain  it  to  you. 
If   you   were    intelligent  you 

would  understand  quite  well. 
We  have  four. 
There  are  three  bananas. 
You  have  two  long  arrows. 
Go  and  fetch. 
Put  it  on  the  ground. 
Sit  down. 

I  will  not  give  you. 
Shut  the  door. 
Open  the  door. 

This  house  is  better  than  that. 
We   have   put    on    our  best 
clothes. 

These  buckets  are  full  of  water. 
The   servant  will  wash  your 

clothes. 
What  is  your  name  ? 
This  tree  has  large  red  leaves. 
I  have  the  toothache. 
His  eyes  are  black. 
The  elephant   tracks   are  no 

longer  visible. 
Look  for  my  key.    It  is  lost ; 

I  do  not  know  where  it  is. 
The  Arabs  have  not  yet  arrived. 

Are  you  pleased  with  the  knife 

I  have  bought  ? 
The  cups  which  we  bought  at 

Zanzibar  are  all  broken. 
The  palms  we  planted  two  years 

ago  have  still  no  nuts. 
The  man  whose  name  I  don't 

know  will  return  to-morrow. 


Angawi  neborendau  nandu. 
Nebattou  kanobou  netinet, 
Kagneti  Suaheli,  madimoko. 

Naboureteret  nemandou  angis- 

saka  pete. 
Ekoumbi  sai  qu'a  sosiwa. 
Ebangu  d'asotie  metete. 
Xebangou  sorou  sanou  meteti. 
Commodru  maku. 
Ketu  duburu. 
Kudi  duburu. 
Mau-ku-mi-ko. 
Kato  nosussu. 
Kangi  nosussu. 

Nedjo  mombe,  endri  konombe. 
Mangepiroumou  nebali. 

Nede  kere  egou  tope. 
Nandra  kaba  nogi. 

Anoru  bassi? 

Xekere  ameli  niepopo  bangba 

Aneke  kuboran. 

Anengo  meku. 

Noko  andebiri  agasinga. 

Nefoungoula  agasinga  kamogou. 

Ne  matamatamba  kekouka  ko- 
godri. 

Nesape  moge  ebamikou  ? 

Nekopi  magi  Zanzibar  angounsi 
pete. 

Oko  nedimede  nekaranga  sown 
kanoke. 

Nabour    ekou    obowie  canati 
anerou. 


298 


APPENDICES 


Is  there  any  one  who  speaks 
Suaheh. 

The    Arabs    destroy    all  the 
houses. 

People  despise  those  who  do 

not  pay  their  debts. 
The  cook  has  cooked  him  every 

day  potatoes. 
Give  me  a  little  water  to  drink. 
His  arrow  has  wounded  me  in 

the  ear. 

Measure  the  length  and  breadth 

of  that  plank. 
This  situation  does  not  please 

me. 

We  shall  have  eight  fat  sheep. 

Wash  these  ten  white  coats. 
I  saw  him  bathing  and  he  was 

drowned. 
When  the  clock  strikes  three 

wake  me. 
If  the  food  is  ready  let  us  eat. 
The  cook  has  eaten  your  bread. 
When  Abdullah  comes  tell  him 

I  am  out. 
If   they  had  not  been  afraid 

they  would  not  have  got  this 

contract. 
Bring  the  empty  cups. 
I  will  buy  a  very  fine  pipe. 
If  they  don't  come  we  shall  eat 

alone. 

When  are  you  going  to  visit 
him  ? 

What  Doctor  cured  your  wife  ? 
What    tree    are    you  cutting 

down  ? 
We  do  not  smoke. 


Nabour  kana  abeti  netou  bag- 

nene  Suaheli. 
Nematematambas  kapopou  ne- 

dio  pete. 
Kamomou  nekegou  kamamou- 

net. 

Nekouk  odimasinge  kim  pete. 

Komoko  egou  piedo  mambo. 
Kaugossou  nebi  mekou. 

Kaude  egou  bari. 

Nape  endri  kanombe. 

Kondoro  toa  tesernet  egi  sota 

sai  koba  tua. 
Kaboma  egi  nebebenet  teke. 
Magounga  nobadiet  onzi. 

Neko  opoundrenet  neroumo. 

Agno  kebi  momagno. 
Nekouk  agno  nekwanga  pete. 
Abdullah,  ekounet  madi  noko 

kai  madre. 
Kaguewnet  mogahoberet  noko. 

Ekore  nekopo  tapurri. 
Mangogi  mebali  nepoko. 
Kagnekounet  momogno  kanna. 

Ekeni  kabassi  manoya  monag- 
nani 

Moganga  kagna  nendro  indio  ? 
Azekeret  moufome  ? 

Monoundiouka  netobo. 


APPENDICES 


299 


I  will  buy  absolutely  nothing. 
Don't  you  know  where  my  pipe 
is? 

That  arrow  fell  where  I  was 

standing. 
We  like  honey. 

We  like  water  better  than  the 
palm  wine. 

We  are  all  hungry. 

We  are  all  thirsty. 

I  have  questioned  him  several 
times,  biit  he  has  not  an- 
swered. 

You  have  not  done  well. 

Tell  me  again. 

They  won't  come  to-day. 

We  will  not  cut  down  this  tree. 


Kamomou  nemaginedou. 
Kai  eti  nepoko  indri  ? 

Nebangou  kaisou  nape  mapo 

iendri. 
Moma  nebo. 

Moma  egou  komomo  eko  awa. 

Nemori  angessi. 
Etiongongo  angessi  pete. 
Medegonokotua,  kana  demoko. 

Kagnesi  mombe. 
Mabeti. 

Ekou  opia  netoune. 
Magoku  nekirenet. 


DATE  DUE 


G A YLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U   S  A. 

